Beast and The Beauty
by Candified Chaos
Summary: He's known as the town freak, the one that no one wants to talk to. And her..well she's a witch. A witch that was banned from the village eons ago. So what will happen when he stumbles into her home? Gale. I don't own Fairy Tail or Beauty and The Beast.
1. Chapter 1

Weird? Calling Gajeel weird was an understatement. He was fine with being weird too. He didn't particularly like all the other villagers. Since it was a small village, everyone knew each other and everyone was happy with each other. Well except Gajeel. No one really liked him. But he was fine with that too.

However, he was not fine with having to go to the other side of town to go to the market and get some eggs.

As the pierced man walked through the town, he wasn't oblivious to the cold stares he got from the villagers. When he and his father first came to this village, everyone feared him because of his appearance. He supposed he couldn't blame them too much. He was at least six feet tall, pierced all over the place, spiky black hair, and he always seemed to wear a scowl. Of course they still feared him, but they were less fearful and most cruel to him. They never said it to him in person though, but he could hear them talking behind his back. Whispering.

Whatever, he didn't care. They could think what they like. They weren't his problem.

Gajeel kept walking down the small village, the happy conversations and smiles stopping as he passed by the villagers. Sometimes even the birds stopped singing. Though one person dared to look at him, the cocky girl of the village, Ikaruga, that kept flirting with him even when he told her to screw off. She was no doubt the hottest girl in town, but that meant squat to Gajeel. Sure, she was nice to look at, but gosh her voice was so annoying. It was like a parrot, and it never shut up. Especially when she was around Gajeel.

Which was now.

"Gajeel-sama~ Wanna go on a walk together?" The pink haired girl asked as she clung onto Gajeel's arm. She had pink long hair that went down to her butt and it was tied up at the top so it looked like she was wearing a bow on the top of her head. She wear white, low cut, kimono with red scars at the bottom and large blue heels. Not to mention all the make up she wore.

"No." Gajeel stated simply as he brushed the woman off, shaking his arm a bit to get her off of him, which she did. But she was obviously not happy as she did. Gajeel didn't care. She was annoying as heck, she could be as mad as she wanted to be at him. He wouldn't ever care.

"Why not." She pouted, deliberately trying to put her cleavage more into his view by leaning a certain way, but again, he didn't care. At all.

"Because I don't like you." The black haired man said honestly without shame as he kept his pace, not bothering to waste another breath on her, especially if he had to speed up to do so. He was fine with running, but he didn't think she was worth the extra energy.

"What? Why not?" Ikaruga suddenly shouted and stomped her foot on the ground, outraged at him. But once more, he didn't care. He didn't ever care about her. She was just annoying, and it's not like she even cared about him. It was like she was trying to seduce him so she could say she catches the eye of every guy in the village. Which wouldn't be surprising for her. She's broken up relationships before just to prove that she was right. Though it couldn't all be blamed on her, if the guy was willing to cheat, then it wouldn't work. Still..she shouldn't do that to prove she was right.

Yet even after she's seduced, manipulated, made fun of, and targeted people, she was somehow the star of the village. The person that everyone loved. The 'popular' girl. No, that was mean. Gajeel wouldn't say every popular girl was like that, just the stereotypical popular girl. And oh wow, was she ever one.

As the girl just stormed away, offended, Gajeel kept walking until he reached the market. He quickly bought some eggs there, while the shop own cowered in fear at Gajeel's presence. Gajeel just snorted at him as he bought the eggs, giving him the exact money he needed. No more, no less. Though he had an idea there would be rumors that he didn't pay full price. That happened a lot. Though they never had proof, so he never really got in trouble.

Which was fine with him.

Gajeel walked back into his house quietly, his house further from the rest of the village, which gave him more of a place his farm. Though he wasn't too fond of the farm, it definitely paid the bills. He had a few chickens and a small garden, not much, but enough for now. He walked into the empty house and placed the eggs he bought from the market into the cub boards. Normally he would just use the eggs he got from his chickens but the two were sick at the moment so they weren't laying eggs, but it was only a small cold so they would be fine soon.

He grunted lightly as he walked down to his basement to see his little workshop he had set up. He made a lot of different things that had to do with metal really, metal was his fascination. So when the farm didn't pay, like with the eggs now, he relied on his skills. The eggs and plants paid for the house and food, but with the money he made by being a black smith, that was for fun things. Like more metal.

He loved making things out metal, it didn't matter what, he would even make jewelry. As long was it was made from metal. His dad taoght him how to do this, it was his passion to. He was also the town blacksmith, though the town liked him more than they liked Gajeel. He was still considered a fool and a weird guy, but he got more customers than Gajeel did.

That was..until he disappeared. Gajeel didn't know why his dad disappeared, he just left, without a word. All of his stuff was gone too, some people suggested that he was kidnapped, but they found no proof of that. So most people just suggested that he didn't want to live with Gajeel anymore, that Gajeel was too weird for him. Too much of a monster.

But Gajeel never believed that for a second. He knew his father had a reason for leaving, Gajeel just didn't know what. However, Gajeel knew he would come back. Even if no one else did, since it's been seven years and Gajeel was now an adult.

Twenty years old at that as well. Twenty years old without a fiance or a wife. He knew people talked about that behind his back, but he didn't care. He's also heard rumors of him and Ikaruga getting married. He did care about that one though. Because it made him angry.

Gajeel didn't even know why he had to get married and why people were so..what's the word? Suspicious? Yeah. Suspicious about it he supposed. Like he was doing something wrong or something. Which he probably was in their eyes. Whenever someone was at marrying age they should get married right away to them. Which was stupid. Gajeel wasn't against getting married. Not at all. But right away? Shouldn't they at least get to know the person first? To get to love them?

His thoughts were cut off by the sound of fast footsteps to show running come barging into his workshop while Gajeel played around with his metal, just holding it over the fire to see what ways he could mold it. He glanced over at the owner of the footsteps, curious as to who would barge into his workshop like this, when he noticed that it was Ikaruga's henchwoman. The girl was extraordinarily tall and pretty like Ikaruga, but she was always the 'minion', being put down by Ikaruga, but the girl stood by her even with all the teasing. Which Gajeel didn't see why she would, but it wasn't any of his concern.

Instead, what she said was his concern.

"You're father is in the forest!"

 **So how was that? I've had this idea for months but haven't actually done anything with it. But I'm a bit proud, and I'm curious to see what you guys think. This is also my first main Gale story so it's pretty cool.**

 **I'm excited for this at least :D.**


	2. Chapter 2

Gajeel didn't know his heart could beat so fast. And running through the forest, was not helping. His breath got heavier as he heard the snapping of the branches underneath the feet, and the crackles of the leaves. The noise didn't really matter, it never mattered. He'd run through this forest a dozen times, he was used to the noise and the spiky branches at the bottom of the trees that would cut his ankles.

However, he didn't think the forest was so long. He had only been running for a few minutes but it felt like hours, and it felt like he was just running down a long hallway. A VERY long hallway at that.

Though, he supposed he should've asked where for the directions. But he knew the forest pretty well. Which helped him out a lot as he ran down the long hallway of

And he was not happy when he got to the end of the hallway.

At the end of the hallway, was Ikaruga, with a picnic basket and wearing way too nice clothes for a picnic. Oh, another part of this, she was alone. And girls like her don't picnic alone unless they expect a guy to just stumble along and stumble right into them. Which was exactly like what Gajeel did, much to his despair.

"Oh Gajeel!" Ikaruga spoke up as she looked up at Gajeel, unwrapping a tuna sandwich as she did, which was one of Gajeel's favourite foods. Normally he sprinkled metal shavings into it..but he doubted she would do that. Not that he wanted her to anyways, "So nice to see you here!"

"Yeah.." Gajeel grumbled at the sight of her and clenched his fist, the gears in his brain moving as he figured out what all of this as.

"Why not have a seat and eat? I brought too much anyways." Ikaruga said and gestured over to the opposite side of the picnic blanket, where there just happened to be a tuna sub and bottle of soda waiting there, as if she somehow knew that Gajeel would arrive.

Now, Gajeel was many things, (but most of the time) he was not an idiot. And he knew he was being set up here.

And he HATED being set up.

"What the heck is wrong with you?" Gajeel growled as his face darkened as he glared at the green grass that was flowing with the wind. He didn't even bother looking up at the pink haired female, not even standing the sight of her at that moment.

"What do you mean?" She asked in a sweet voice, as if she was trying to pretend that she was innocent. That only made Gajeel even more madder as he clenched his fist harder, like he was trying not to go and strangle her right now. And if you looked closely at his face, you could see he was trying very hard, so he deserves a pat on the back right now.

"You set me up! You had your little minion tell me my dad was here. You liar!" Gajeel yelled at her, glaring up at her now as even the birds went silent while Gajeel yelled. His glare pierced into her, like a knife piercing through skin. This was a truly horrifying glare though. Gajeel always glared, but those were normal glares. One that you would usually earn from a normal person. No..this was different. This was much worst than a normal glare. It was terrifying, and would make most people run for cover. No wonder the birds had gone silent. Ikaruga even looked fazed by it, and she rarely looked fazed by a glare. Though it wasn't much, it was enough to get her to stand up to him.

"You have no proof of that!" Ikaruga yelled back at him, but the glint in her eyes made it obvious that she had planned this. All of this.

Gajeel almost punched her at that. His fist was up and he was in the position to punch her, in the face too. But he took a deep breath and let his fist fall back to his side, "You're not worth it." He mumbled and shook his head as he thought about what he was about to do. She deserved it, for tricking him like that. For bringing up his hopes and then squashing them like they were nothing but bugs, and for what? To prove that she was the best? That stupid pinkette was wicked and insane, but would good would it be for Gajeel's dad if he was in jail when he came back? So Gajeel just took another deep breath, turned around, and walked away.

Much to Ikaruga's annoyance.

The black haired man could hear her huff and storm off as Gajeel walked back into the forest, not even bothering to try and persuade him otherwise. Which was smart, considering it was her. Gajeel probably would've punched her out this time if she did try anymore. However, after walking for about ten minutes, he realized he hadn't been paying attention. Which was pretty stupid, on his part for that. Because now he had no idea where he was.

Typically, Gajeel DOES know the forest pretty well. But he doesn't go into the dark and spooky part of the forest so he doesn't know that part the best. Though to be fair, who did go into the spooky part of the forest? That's just a horror movie waiting to happen. You never go into the spooky part of the forest. Well, apparently when Gajeel's mad, he's a bit of a rebel.

But he sincerely regretted that now.

Especially since it started to rain.

Gajeel didn't know when it started raining, a few minutes ago maybe? Honestly, he couldn't even tell how long he had been walking. It felt like a few minutes, but considering when he looked back, he couldn't even see the place where the Ikaruga had planned anymore. So..he maybe have been walking for a bit more than a few minutes..

The pierced man let out a string of not-so-nice words under his breath as he trudged through the wet forest, the cold water falling down onto his already cold skin. The wind whipped at him, not making the trip any more pleasurable.

Gajeel kept walking for quite a while now, not getting any warmer as he did. The wind didn't let up as he walked and the rain was only getting thicker, making it harder for Gajeel to see in this dreaded forest, and he had a sinking feeling that he wasn't getting any closer to home.

Just when he was about to give up and go in another direction, Gajeel noticed a light up ahead. It wasn't a bright light, but it was bright enough for him to notice it. He started running towards it, believing it was his village, but when he got there..he saw something much different. It was a large, dark castle. The castle was honestly, probably even bigger than half the village all put together. But man..it was spooky. Like...evil witch spooky.

Another rule; Don't go into spooky castles or cottages hidden deep in the forest.

However, once again, angry Gajeel just wasn't in the mood to listen to rules, even if they could save his life. Plus he needed to get indoors before the wolves decided it was time to come out. So he took his last deep breath, before going inside the castle.


	3. Chapter 3

The place was spooky, like..horror movie spooky. Gajeel wasn't sure whether this place was haunted or not. But it sure looked like it. It was dimly lit, the only light available was given from the candles that were a few meters apart at least. The walls were black, and there were some creepy paintings hanging from the walls, the type of paintings with the eyes that follow you. The floors were a black colour as well, or at least a dark blue, but there was a burgundy red carpet covering part of it and going up the large staircase in front of him, and down the hallways that were to the left and right.

Though, to be fair, this place was pretty clean. He didn't see any cobwebs, despite how cliché this seemed. And it smelled pretty good too, to be honest. Like homemade cake. Which..was a bit disturbing. Because that meant that this place was used recently. Someone actually lived in this place, and Gajeel was trespassing now. Just as the big man turned around to walk out since he wasn't in the mood to get in trouble for trespassing, he felt something light jump onto his back. Instantly, Gajeel turned around to try and figure out who the culprit was.

But..there was no culprit.

There was no one behind him. Yet he still felt like there was something on him. ..There was something else he felt now. His back felt hot for some reason. Like..REALLY hot. Burning hot actually.

Then..that's when he smelt it. It had been a while since he had smelt the horrible fragrance of burning hair, but he knew what it smelt like now. Except, there was a problem. There was no one near him or anything with hair...which meant..

There was a girlish screech heard throughout the castle as Gajeel reached back to feel his hand burning when he touched his hair, now seeing the smoke as it floated up to his face. He widened his eyes and reached behind his back even more, a painful crack being heard as he had to force his arm back down.

"Natsu! Let go of him!" An actual female voice said from behind Gajeel, making him jump, because he was sure that there was no one there before. The black haired man turned around quickly, expecting to see a girl behind him, but..there was no one. No one at all.

"Nooo! He's an intruder!" A male voice this time, coming directly from behind Gajeel, like he was touching his back. But..again...no one was there. However, the two did a pretty good job of distracting Gajeel and making him forget all about his burning hair..

The man started jumping around like an idiot again when he recalled that his hair was on fire, reaching back behind him to try and pat the fire out, but again, his arm just didn't bend that way. Sometimes he really hated having long hair...

"NATSU! YOU SET HIS HAIR ON FIRE!" The same female voice screeched, very angry at this 'Natsu'. If Gajeel's hair wasn't on fire at the moment, he might have freaked out over the fact that he was hearing voices that didn't seem to belong to anyone. This house must be haunted then, so far, it was the only explanation that he could come up with. Maybe not the best, or the right, but his hair was on fire so he wasn't thinking too much about that.

"GAH! I KNOW! STOP YELLING AT ME!" The male voice returned, yelling back at the girl, seeming a bit panicked now and Gajeel felt small and weak pats on the back from something. Of course, that did not calm him at all. Not even in the slightest.

"STOP HITTING HIM! YOUR HANDS ARE ON FIRE SO IT WON'T WORK!" The female yelled even louder than both the previous shouts from before put together. This..this made Gajeel even more freaked out, and if he wasn't already pretty brave, he may have had a panic attack. Or fainted. One of those two.

Of course, it didn't stop him from jumping around like an even bigger idiot now.

"JUST GET OFF!" The female voice screeched at the male, most likely at least, when the male didn't respond. After a few moments that felt endless, whatever was on his back was off now, which made Gajeel more tense because that meant the male was on him but..Gajeel couldn't see him. He was also a bit relieved that there was no one on his back anymore..but his hair was still on fire.

"Wait! I've got this!" The male exclaimed, who Gajeel had decided was the 'Natsu' the female was yelling at before. There was the sound of footsteps exiting the room, but it was odd. It sounded like a piece of metal hitting the ground over and over again, the noise fading out as it got out. None of this was helping Gajeel's nerves, so he hoped that's not what they were trying to do.

Whoever 'they' are.

In a few more moments, the clunking of the footsteps returned, but the sound of water swishing around was heard too and before Gajeel knew it, the back of his shirt was drenched in water.

It was..drenched...in water.

Well he definetely hoped it was water. Because if it wasn't..well was it bad that his immediate thought that if it wasn't water..then it was blood? Probably not though, to be fair, he was hearing voices in a creepy castle that smelled of cake and something jumped on his back that set his hair on fire. Would it seriously be that weird for him to think that?

Yes, but still..

At the feel of the wetness on his back, the black haired man spun around out of instinct, expecting to see two ghosts or something there. But..he didn't. Instead, he just stared down at the two behind him with a mixture of confusion, shock, and insanity look on his face because..well...he was staring down at a pink candle holding an empty bucket and a yellow feather duster...with faces.


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay so honestly, I was planning on leaving this story behind since I lost inspiration for it but then...I got a review on it. A review that both fed my ego and made me feel guilty. I have such a guilty conscience. So basically, yeah I'm updating this again but it'll be a lot slower than what I used to do.**

"WHAT THE ACTUAL **_BLEEP_**?" Gajeel screeched and stumbled back a bit until he fell on his butt. In front of him were appliances, appliances he would use ever day, staring at him. Not metaphorically either. They were literally staring at him, with eyes, and a nose, and a mouth. Well they were staring at him with their eyes but the other features were also quite noticeable. Especially since they were APPLIANCES!

"Tsk, such nasty language." The pink candle said and shook its...head?

"Says you." The yellow feather duster snorted and shook her head at the candle.

Gajeel stared at them for a few moments, his eyes wide in terror at the whole thing, "Great...so I'm imagining things and they're judging my language..." he mumbled, almost completely paralyzed.

"Why do they always just assume THEY've made us up?" The candle asked with a huffed and crossed his arms, as if offended by what Gajeel said. To be honest though, the large man didn't give a crap if he did or not. "I mean we're way too unique and awesome to be made up by a mere...punk." the candle added on, looking smug at his words as Gajeel just glared at him.

He glared at a candle.

He couldn't exactly remember taking any drugs...but maybe someone slipped something into a drink of his without him knowing?

"Again, says you." The feather duster repeated and just stared at the candle with a very judgmental look. Which was actually being interesting for Gajeel to see.

"What? I'm not a punk!"

"You have pink hair!"

"It's SALMON and NATURAL!"

"Sure." She (Gajeel assumed by the voice and the name he heard) said and rolled her eyes.

The candle huffed again and looked away from her, pretty offended.

"...What is your hair?" Some words sputtered out of the large man's mouth. He paused after speaking and closed his mouth as he registered what he just said in his mind. He came to a horror movie castle and there were now two oddly coloured appliances arguing in front of him. THAT was the question he asked?

A sigh escaped his lips, the disappointed sigh directed at himself.

The feather duster widened her eyes when she realized what they were talking about then let out a sigh too, one almost exactly the same as the one he had before, but with some more disappointment. "Just forget it..." she mumbled and looked down.

Even the candle looked kind of upset when he asked.

Gajeel had no clue what he did wrong, but that just made this whole thing even weirder.

They kept looking away for a little bit, the awkward silence falling among the three. Gajeel sat there in complete confusion still, his hands behind him to hold him up as he leaned a little since his posture wasn't that great. His legs spread out and the appliances on the other side of them. The floor was cold on his hands, but he hadn't noticed it until it had gotten silent. He didn't bother to move his hands though in case movement made things more awkward. The last thing he really wanted right now was to have an even more awkward moment with these illusions he made in his head and fought a lot apparently.

The feather duster suddenly looked up, a smile now planted on her face as her eyes twinkled with hope for something. Something that Gajeel figured he didn't want to know. Since...illusion.

"Natsu!" The feather duster that Gajeel refused to name since that would make it more weird for him, "What if he's the one?"

The candle blinked, glancing over at her like she was crazy, "Seriously?"

"Well why not?" She huffed at him, now looking like she was offended instead.

 _Appliances sure get offended easily..._ Gajeel thought silently to himself.

"Look at him! Why would THAT ever happen?" The candle said and laughed loudly, Gajeel now feeling like he was being mocked so he kicked the candle. Not too hard, but enough to through him off balance and tip him over.

He was VERY displeased with Gajeel after that, "Who the hell do you think you are?" He grumbled and struggled to get up. It was amusing to watch him swing around like a turtle on his back. Eventually, he realized that he could use his hands to push himself up, but when he did, the wax he was using to try and push himself up betrayed him and made his hands swing over instead so he ended up landing on his back again.

Gajeel chuckled loudly at the sight, not even bothering to try and hide it. He was laughing at his own illusion being stupid. Great. He's gone mad.

"See this! This is why he can't be the one! He's a **_BLEEPING BLEEPER_**!" The candle yelled before finally getting up, with the help of the feather duster of course.

She sighed at his language, not even bothering to fight him this time. Gajeel could tell from her sigh.

"Anyways.." Gajeel mumbled, starting to feel a bit more comfortable to ask some more questions, "What do you think I am?"

Suddenly, as if something was turned on again, the feather duster's eyes gleamed once more, "The one!"

"The one for what?" Gajeel asked his illusion, kind of just accepting that this was happening now. Well, what else would he do?

"THE one!" She exclaimed again very excitedly but she didn't answer in his question in the lightest.

"Which is..." He said, urging her to answer.

Which of course she didn't.

"Aah this is going to be so awesome!" She yelled happily and started to jump around like a little girl. Gajeel yawned in sync with the candle, making him feel odd about that. The candle didn't seem too pleased either and glared at Gajeel. The large man didn't give a crap about the glare from the puny candle.

"She gets excited." The candle mumbled as a response, looking over at the feather duster then shaking his head as if this was a common thing. Which Gajeel wouldn't argue that fact.

He opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by a gust of wind. Cold wind. It blew past the candle, blowing his fires out then blowing out the fires of the other candles so it was only pitch black. The two appliances sweatdropped when they felt the gist then suddenly ran behind Gajeel, hiding behind him.

Gajeel raised an eyebrow at them, now curious about what scared his illusions.

A light blue started to illunimate the room as he heard footsteps start to walk down the stairs nearby. A frown formed on his face as he waited for the next illusion to appear.

Slowly, a human like figure appeared, Gajeel needing to blink a few times to see it. A small girl started to walk down the bottom of the stairs before she disappeared. He didn't have a moment to process it before the girl appeared in front of him. She wore a short dress that looked like it was cut and a black witch hat. She had light blue hair that fell to her chin and wore a long staff, almost as big as the girl. That's where the light came from. Yet it had no fire or bulb, light was just ejecting itself off of the staff.

"How dare you come into my home?" She growled down at him, her voice raspy and her eyes danced like a storm. The anger clearly evident in her voice.

Gajeel stared at her before he slowly started to stand up, looking down on her with a curious expression before he finally spoke, "Damn... you're small."


	5. Chapter 5

"Excuse me?" The voice of the young woman snapped, her stormy eyes glaring up at Gajeel.

Gajeel didn't cower like it was obvious that she wanted. She was his illusion too just like the appliances were so except from the fact that he should be scared that he was having illusions, there was no way he would be scared of her. So instead he just kept staring down at her without a care in the world. Well there was one care.

"You're so tiny. Why are you so tiny?" He asked, actually confused about this.

The girl huffed at her and stomped her foot, puffing her lip out a bit as she did, "That's rude!"

"Well you're supposed to be the illusion to scare me right? So why are you so tiny? That's not scary." Gajeel mumbled as he looked at her, "And you're puffing out your lip. How the heck is that supposed to be scary? You're adorable."

Her eyes widened and blushed at that as she crossed her arms, "Oh yeah? Well you're ugly!" She yelled at him.

Gajeel raised an eyebrow at that, still staring down at her, "Is that your insult?"

"...No."

"Good, that was awful."

She snorted at him then gave him another glare, seeming pretty angry at him now. Her staff was still held in her hands and still glowing blue. Gajeel wasn't exactly sure why it was glowing blue, but it was his illusion so he just accepted it.

"What was with your entrance too? That was pretty weird. Why bother blowing out the candles? To show off your weird staff thingy?" He asked and rolled his eyes again, honestly looked very unimpressed with himself. He knew he wasn't the most imaginative guy out there. That was pretty obvious, but he had hoped he'd be at least able to think up something a little less cliche. This chick was just like the villagers. Plain. Boring.

"Is he insane?" A voice said from behind, the candle Gajeel figured. His voice was more annoying than the feather dusters was. Though hers was a bit squeaky, and bubbly. She sounded like one of those preppy girls he's always hated. Of course everyone loved her though, so that made Gajeel even more disliked. But he stopped caring about what they thought. They had stupid thoughts anyways..

"Possibly." The feather duster replied, her voice wavering.

A sigh escaped Gajeel's lips as he listened to the words then looked back at the girl, who just kept staring at him. She looked like she was expecting something of him. He had no idea what she was expecting though, so he didn't care. Instead he just looked up, away from her. He looked up at the large ceiling and then he looked over at the candles. The steam no longer leaving the candles from when they were blown out since it had been a few minutes already, but the heat was still there for a little bit longer.

Then his eyes fell back to her glowing staff, his line of vision attracted to the light just like a moth.

"So are you a witch then?" Gajeel asked quietly, his eyes still looking at the glowing part of the staff.

The girl stiffened up lightly, acting surprised at the fact that he asked her a question that wasn't stupid. He took offense to that, naturally, but it's not like he had prove that's what went on in her head. "In a way." The girl mumbled and her eyes drifted off, hiding darker secrets behind them.

Though Gajeel didn't care about his illusions secrets so he didn't ask her about it.

"Um...Levy.." The quiet voice of the feather duster spoke, her head peeking out from behind Gajeel's calves to look at the girl, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She sighed at her then glared at Gajeel again, as if she forgot about him for her few 'brooding' moments, "Now why are you in my house? Get out!" The girl screeched, Gajeel also refusing to name her since it was more acknowledgement of his insanity.

"No." Gajeel deadpanned, staring at her still, "There's a storm outside and I have no where to go. So I'm staying here for the night." he told her sternly, making it sound more like an order than a request. It was his illusion after all.

Honestly, he didn't want to be there. It was a creepy ass haunted castle that would be seen in horror books or used in Fairy TAILS to scare children. But Gajeel had a pretty bad feeling that he wouldn't really survive the night in the woods with the storm. Especially with the wolves.

"You are not." She stated, her voice suddenly deadly. As if she was daring him to take another step.

Gajeel dared, and did exactly that.

However, he seriously regretted it.

Out of the blue, the woman slammed the bottom of her staff onto the ground, blue sparkles popping up when she did, resembling sparks from rocks sliding against each other. But that would not have been able to create enough friction for sparks. Especially blue ones.

Lights glowed from around him, circling him in. His eyes widened in panic as he looked back at the girl, who was smirking very smugly at him. Had he not been too shocked at what was going on, Gajeel probably would've glared at her.

Underneath him, the wooden flooring started to cave in. Bit by bit, the pieces fell into the hole that was being created underneath him. Soon the slithers of wood finally caved in completely, leaving Gajeel no choice but to fall in. There was nothing he could grab onto. Every single piece that was within the circle was gone now, and the soil beneath it felt metal smooth. So he just fell, until landing on the dirt bottom.

"Then you may sleep here tonight." The girl said, staring down at him as the lights faded away, a smirk formed on her face as she started to walk away.

Then the wood reformed, and the darkness fell in on him.


	6. Chapter 6

_Is he still here?_

 _Where else could he have gone?_

 _I don't know. Should we get help?_

Voices echoed in Gajeel's head as he slept. Light slowing starting to peer into him closed eyes as a few crumbs of dirt landed on him. That made him slowly start to stir, well more the light than the dirt. But he was still starting to stir away, despite the fact that his body was screaming no at him. It screamed to sleep more, to get more rest. Maybe then it wouldn't have anymore illusions. But all of his body's arguments were completely dismissed when a plank of wood landed on his head.

"Oops." Was said as Gajeel jolted awake at the impact. A groan escaped his lips as he looked up to see the bright light glaring down at him. He looked up in confusion, not sure what he was going on or what he was doing in a hole exactly.

But when he saw the pink candle at the top, staring down at him, the memories flooded back into his head...

" _ **Bleep**_ " He cursed, growling a little bit as he did. Anger flooded his veins as he remembered that stupid blue haired girl, actually considering this not to be an illusion anymore. That she might be real...

If so, then he was gonna enjoy kicking her ass.

"Get me out." Gajeel ordered, looking at the candle.

"How?" The candle asked, slightly looking smug when he said that. Gajeel wasn't sure why though, but he just knew that it wasn't for a good reason.

"What do you mean how? Get me a ladder or a rope or something!" Gajeel exclaimed, his voice angry and harsh. He was done playing games. He didn't even want to be here, he was trapped in here by the storm. That girl was rude to him and used some stupid 'sorcery' to try and make herself look cool. Gajeel could've easily set up some type of contraption like she did. And she used the fact that he was tired to try and trick him.

That...that witch with a b...

"Ladder? Rope? No way! I can't lift that!" The candle exclaimed. Gajeel groaned. Stupid robots...

"Maybe you can climb up?" The feather duster suggested.

"The dirt is smooth as stone! How the heck am I supposed to climb up it?" Gajeel snapped at her.

She tensed up a little bit, well as tense as a feather duster can look, then glanced away. She seemed a bit offended by what he said, but Gajeel didn't care. He wanted out of this already. His mind had accepted that these weren't illusions anymore, and that made him pretty happy actually. Since that meant he could beat up that little chick. Girl or no. She was so going to pay.

And no 'hurt feelings' from a stupid little robot was going to distract him.

"Move out of the way!" A strong, feminine voice spoke. Gajeel didn't recognize that voice though. It sounded a bit stern and powerful. He didn't know who it was at all, but he just hoped it wasn't another object.

"Erza!" The feather duster said happily as a red _**Bleeping**_ tea cup looked down at Gajeel.

He cussed a bit more at that.

"Don't worry. Elfman is here to help." The tea cup said to the feather duster. Just as she spoke, a large thumping sound was heard. Then again, and again. Like something very big was walking.

Even more cusses came out of Gajeel's mouth.

"Look out below!" The irritating candle yelled to Gajeel.

Gajeel however, didn't actually listen to him until a ladder almost came crashing down on his head. Luckily, he was able to move out of the way in time but just barely.

He quickly started yelling those cusses instead. More directed at the objects this time.

"Nasty mouth." The tea cup said condescendingly and shook her head at him. Gajeel held back swearing even more at her, just because they helped her. In a bad way, in an almost killing him way but still helped...a bit.

Gajeel rolled his eyes at her then moved the ladder a bit. He had his hands on the sides of it then moved it around enough so it was stable against the side and so that he could get out.

He placed his foot on the bottom of the step of the ladder then started to climb up. Gajeel was slow at first just in case something else happened. That the brat had some sort of other trap waiting for him. When he reached the end of the ladder, he crawled out of the hole before standing up instead.

"So this is the guy?" The tea cup asked, looking Gajeel up and down, but he didn't know. Instead he was staring up at the giant white wardrobe that...just seemed angry. It looked like he was glaring at Gajeel, but it wasn't really intimidating. One, it was a wardrobe. Two, it was barely taller than him.

"Yeah he is." The feather duster said, moving over to stand beside the tea cup, "He pissed Levy off a lot last night."

"I could tell. She wanted extra sugar in her coffee last night." The tea cup said and nodded, as if she was taking in the information.

Gajeel rolled his eyes at them then looked back up at the wardrobe, who grunted. The wardrobe literally grunted at him. Well, that was something Gajeel could check off his bucket list. If well, he had that on his bucket list. Which he obviously didn't. Because no one would put that on one!

"What did he do exactly?" The tea cup asked the others.

"Be an asshole." The candle replied pretty quickly.

"Shut up." Gajeel snapped to the candle the same time the tea cup did. Gajeel couldn't quite help but smirk at that. The tea cup seemed much less amused though.

"What did he do Lucy?" The tea cup asked, looking over at the feather duster who just sighed.

"Exactly what Natsu said." The duster mumbled and looked at the ground. She didn't seem scared, just exhausted.

"So what are we going to do with this lard bucket?" The idiotic candle asked, dodging a kick from Gajeel when he did. The wardrobe growled at Gajeel when he tried to kick him but Gajeel still didn't care. Why should he? Stupid robots...

"You're a guest in our house." The teacup said, still looking at Gajeel, "So we'll treat you like one, but you must behave like one."

"I'm not staying here." Gajeel glared at her, not sure why he suddenly got angry at her but he was. She was probably being rude and he didn't catch it. Hm...he supposed he just assumed that these robots would be rude to him. The others he met currently have. Wasn't prejudiced at all to think that the tea cup would be rude. Not at all.

"Then why are you even here?" The tea cup asked with a frown at him, "You shouldn't have come in if you weren't planning on staying. That's just odd."

"What's odd is that some crazy lady is living in a castle with weird robots around and not expect someone to get curious." Gajeel said with a sassy tone to her. Judging by the expression that formed on that empty tea cup, she didn't like it at all.

"You shouldn't have been trespassing." She snapped at him, her tone fierce and sharp, the candle wincing at the sound of it.

"It's a friggen castle in the middle of the woods. It looked abandoned." Gajeel defended himself, glaring down at her again.

"If a barn looks abandoned, do you go inside?" She asked, staring at him with a harsh glare.

"This isn't a barn." He deadpanned.

"That's not the point." The tea cup groaned and rolled her eyes at him. As if she had the right. If anything, Gajeel should roll his eyes at her. He had that right, since he was human, and humans have rights. She did not though. Since SHE WASN'T HUMAN!

Gajeel scoffed at her then turned around, looking around at the castle again. It looked a bit different when it was day, well he assumed it was day by the sunlight through the windows, but it looked nicer. Less scary, less freaky, and just...less horrific. It actually looked pretty. Too bad it belonged to such a cranky old brat. He wouldn't mind living here. Away from the villagers, with tons of space, and it would just be peaceful. Again, if not for the brat.

A groan escaped him as he started to walk again. His footsteps echoing through the castle as he made his way to the door. He kept staring at the large door, not listening to the muttering that was coming from behind him. It didn't bother him, those stupid robots could say whatever they want about him.

He was an outcast in the village, but that didn't mean he wanted to leave. That he could leave even when given the chance.

And with that, he walked out the door...only looking back once.


	7. Chapter 7

Sitting back at his house, Gajeel didn't really know what to think. Well he kind of did. A part of him kept saying 'make yourself some robot slaves' but he wasn't sure how exactly. That was insanely frustrating to him as well. Just the thought of that brat being able to do something that he couldn't do made him furious. She barely even looked old enough to count, so how the heck was she able to make these animatronics?

Gajeel slammed his fist against the oak table beside him, making it shake a bit but he didn't put enough force in it to break it. He pushed himself up off of his comfy green chair and started to walk over to his desk that wasn't too far from his relaxing area. Quickly, the man pulled out an empty blueprint and got his white chalk out. Then, he started to brainstorm.

His chalk swerved down and up, writing in words that most people wouldn't understand. At least not people from the village. He drew diagrams that looked like the appliances he saw at the castle. He even gave them the faces. Obviously he would change their personality or just make them not talk, but it was good to start out with what he saw.

As time passed on,he crumbled up more and more pieces of paper then threw them behind him. Vulgar words were spoken many times as he did, breaking a few pieces of chalk as well. Anger started to rise in his stomach as his mind kept reaching a blank. He could figure out some of the mechanics, but not really how they were able to do so much..stuff. Like how they were able to respond to him and make up their own minds. Come up with their own ideas, like with the ladder from the wardrobe. Gajeel just couldn't get that stuff. At least not the mechanics of it.

Another chalk snapped between his fingers before he heard the sound of his door opening. Which was odd because he was almost certain he had locked it up after that odd encounter. Yes...he specifically remembered locking it then putting a dresser in front of it in case any of those things decided to follow him.

He frowned lightly as he turned around and walked out of the little room he was in and into the main room. The dresser was still there, so that was a good sign. However, the door was slightly open. The dresser blocked it of course, but Gajeel didn't like that someone had probably picked open his lock. And those little robots didn't have hands so it wasn't them then.

"Who's there?" He asked in an angry voice. His tone showed that he was clearly annoyed, and ready for a fight as well.

"Just me~" A familiar person replied, a familiar female at least. Not the one from the castle. Heck Gajeel may have preferred the one from the castle more than this one.

Gajeel growled a bit, kind of like a beast would do, "What are you doing here, Ikagura?"

"I just wanted to pay you a visit. You were missing last night! I was worried." Ikagura said and peeked her head through the small opening she had made by moving the door open.

"I don't care." Gajeel grumbled at her and started to move closer so he could push the dresser completely against the door, "And did you pick my lock?"

"No." The woman replied way too quickly for it to even be considered true, "It was unlocked."

"Liar." Gajeel snorted at her, not believing her for even a second.

Ikagura wasn't too pleased with that though. She huffed a bit and pushed harder on the door, but it didn't move anymore which was a bit obvious. "Open the door! I just want to talk to you!" She said angrily and kept pushing hard on the door. Gajeel sighed then pushed the dresser some more until it was completely against the door and she was stuck outside.

He heard her yell a bit, swear as well, but he didn't care. All he wanted to do was make himself some little slaves.

True, that sounded bad, but it wasn't false.

He left the room again and walked back to his desk where he stared at his blueprints again. His mind drew a blank as his eyes stared helplessly at the empty blueprint in front of him. An aching frustration rose in his stomach again as he slowly let himself realize that maybe he wasn't as smart as this lady. After all, Albert Einstein was insane but still he was extremely smart.

Gajeel shook his head a little, deciding to deny that fact. If he just gave up, then he would be worthless. Pathetic and worthless. Real men don't give up.

He sighed again as he took out some more chalk and started to write on the blueprint again. This time trying something a whole lot more different than all the other ones since they didn't work, heck they didn't even come close to what he wanted. Well at least he figured they didn't come close to what he wanted exactly. He had never done this before, or anything like it, so a lot of this was just guessing from his previous knowledge of blacksmithing and such.

As he worked, he heard another door knock.

He rolled his eyes and ignored it at first, but the knocking got more persistent. The eye rolling became more intense as he looked at the door. He wished he had some sort of noise that could block out the knocking but wasn't equally annoying. Sadly, he had none.

A groan fell out of his mouth as he put down his chalk and walked over to the door. However, he grabbed a bat before he got to the door. Just in case Ikagura still wanted to be really annoying. He wouldn't hit her, probably, but hopefully it would scare her enough to leave him alone.

"I already told you to get lost." Gajeel grumbled and pushed the drawer out of the way of the door, only to the side though where it was easy to bring it back in front of the door. He wrapped his free hand around the door knob and pulled it open with a very angry look formed on his face to show that he wasn't messing around.

However, it wasn't the annoying girl that stood there.

Instead, it was honestly, a very weird looking man. He was pretty tall, but really slim too. Almost unhealthily skinny. He had long green hair that went up behind his head and went in multiple points, but it was straight up. It was creepy. Gajeel guessed he wore a long of gel. He had two pieces of green mustaches on either sides of his upper lips along with a brown suit. Along with all of that, there was a smirk on his face that Gajeel didn't like at all. Especially when it grew when the man saw Gajeel.

"Who are you?" Gajeel growled, keeping a tight grip on his bat to scare him off if needed.

The man didn't even seem a little bit intimidated, "My name is Sol." he said calmly then looked down at the papers in his hand, "Are you Gajeel Redfox."

Gajeel glared a little, " I am."

"Good, then I'm here to tell you that you are going to be evicted from this house."


	8. Chapter 8

Gajeel blinked as he looked at the man then frowned a little. "What?" He questioned, not even bothering to try and be polite to the stranger.

"You've missed quite a few bills and you also haven't paid your monthly fee in a very long time." The man stated, acting as if he was just being plain about this, but he seemed to be having too much fun.

Gajeel almost actually believed that this guy had a death wish.

"I didn't know I had to pay a monthly fee." Gajeel replied honestly, but he was in on way nice when he said. He was incredibly pissed off, both his tone and face showing it. The last time a monthly fee was probably paid was when his dad left. Which was years ago. Shouldn't they have at least sent some sort of notice or warning? Or reminder? Or just something instead of coming to him in his house and basically telling him to get out.

"That's not my problem." The man said, an evil little twinkle in his eye now.

"You should've sent me some sort of warning." Gajeel stated, anger evident in his voice.

"We did. It's not our fault that you didn't get them." The man countered as he held the papers still.

Gajeel frowned at that. He didn't get any notice at all. Did someone take them? "You should've come to me in person." Gajeel said.

"Isn't that what I'm doing right now?" He smirked at Gajeel.

Gajeel almost decked him right then and there.

"So anyways, you have a thirty days to move out of this house and everything left behind will be sold." He said quite simply as he read off the paper, but Gajeel had a feeling this wasn't really being read off it. He had practiced it before hand.

"You can't do this." Gajeel growled at him.

The man just smirked before turning around and start to sashay away but not before giving him one last side look, "I believe I just did, Mr. Redfox."

And that was the start of Gajeel's home search.

* * *

Surprisingly enough, no one would accept Gajeel into their inns. They all said the same thing. They were all booked out. Was it a bad thing that Gajeel highly doubted it? Every single inn in the town wouldn't accept Gajeel for a few days in about a month while he looked for a home? They were all booked for the next month. Considering how small this town was and how many visitors they would get a year...Gajeel had a feeling it was something against him.

He grumbled a bit as he walked in the town, kicking at random rocks to try and get rid of his frustration. He wasn't even popping up suddenly hoping for a room. He was trying to book in advance so he knew he would have a place to stay. He didn't know why they all didn't want him at their inns. They were basically throwing away money.

Whatever. They're loss.

No, that wasn't exactly true. It was kind of Gajeel's lost as well. He didn't really have any place to stay when he was kicked out of his house. He could try and make a small home or something then get an actual home while staying there. He did have a month. But where would his stuff stay then? He had a lot of stuff. They would not fit in a small home. Plus he needed to keep his money for getting the actual home. Where in the world was he supposed to go?

A thought popped into his mind. A thought that he believed to be incredibly horrifying and tried to push it back out of his head. He tried to lock it out, but apparently his locks just weren't locking right today because it came back in.

Go live with the crazy lady, his mind would say. It's a smart idea, his mind would say. She probably won't kill you, his mind would say. And her robot slaves were offering it anyways, his mind would say. Oh how his mind wanted him dead. It was almost surprising how fast his mind wanted him to die.

Gajeel actually fed his brain with knowledge, and now this was the way it repaid him?

Suddenly, he felt a wind brush past him, like a hand had lightly slapped his cheek. He blinked a few times before looking around curiously, like the slap from the wind snapped him back to reality for him to realize he was back in the forest. Not only that, he was once again, lost.

He growled angrily, scaring a nearby rabbit so it hopped away. Just the fact that he was back in this forest was something, but he didn't even know he was coming here? And he was lost? The last place he remembered being was actually in town. Had he really got so lost in his thoughts that he wandered in the forest without acknowledging in the slightest? No..that sounded odd. Even for Gajeel.

Magic maybe?

No that was impossible. He knew that. He wasn't stupid. He had already decided that those robot slaves were...well robotic. He hadn't proved it yet, but was it really needed? They were walking and talking appliances. That was the only logical answer. Even if you did have magic, would you really use it to make appliances slaves? Just make real people slaves, much better. And taller. Except for maybe that wardrobe guy.

Speaking of that magic thing again, just like the appliances, why would the woman even use her magic to bring him into the forest. She hates him. Wait, maybe that was why. She was trying to kill him.

No..no she wasn't.

Gajeel knew he was just being weird again. Weird and angry, wanting someone to blame for this whole giant problem with the house thing. He wanted to blame Sol, he wanted to blame everyone. But it was kind of his fault...he supposed.

Common sense should've told him that his house wasn't exactly free. But still! They should've sent him a notice!

...Unless they did in the mail. Which Gajeel would normally throw out since he used to get a lot of prank mail by the kids in the village.

...

...

Oops.

He groaned inwardly first, but then the groan ended up escaping and he groaned really loudly on the outside too. Annoyed with himself, he kicked a tree. It didn't hurt, the tree wasn't too big nor did he kick it hard enough for it to hurt him. However, it also didn't help him release all the anger he held in himself. Why did he have to be such an idiot? Because of that, he lost his house. The house he grew up in, the house with memories. Memories of his father...

He sighed a bit and continued to walk until he heard a scream.

Gajeel's head jerked up and he looked around to see where the scream came from, but he didn't see anyone around him. Then he heard the scream again, but it sounded a bit like it was..coming from the ground? Blinking, Gajeel glanced down to see a feather duster. A yellow feather duster underneath his foot.

"GET OFF ME!"


	9. Chapter 9

It was quiet for a moment as Gajeel slowly started to process what was going on. What exactly was underneath his foot. The gears in his head turned and he just stared down at the yellow feather duster.

"...Nah." He answered quite simply.

She did not like that in the slightest.

"What do you mean 'nah'?" She asked angrily, quoting him, "Get the heck off me!"

"Nah." Gajeel repeated, a little smirk starting to form on his face. To be completely honest, he was enjoying this way too much. He knew he wasn't hurting her or anything, he wasn't pushing her down hard. His foot was just holding her there. It was...amusing. In a sadistic kind of way.

"GET OFF!" She screamed even louder and tried to wiggle out from underneath his foot. It worked a little bit, slightly getting her free, but not enough so that she was totally free.

"What do I get if I do?" Gajeel asked, crouching down so he could be closer to his face. His smirk stayed planted on his face as he looked down at her, knowing exactly that he was being a jerk. He just..didn't care. It was like he was removing the frustration he had in him by taunting this robot. Had it not been a robot, he may have felt slightly bad. But only slightly.

"What the heck do you want?" The feather duster asked, quite clearly angry at him.

"I would like a house. Or a location of an inn that doesn't know me." Gajeel said, emphasizing on the knowing him part. He wasn't stupid. He knew the innkeepers didn't let him in because they didn't like him.

Which was totally unfair in his opinion. Apparently not in most since all of them were like that.

"And how do you believe I'd be able to provide either of those for you?" She asked in a sassy tone, her hands probably would've been on her hips if she had either one of them.

"I dunno. Go sugar coat your boss or something. She probably knows a bit about this place around here. Maybe should lead me to a town. I'm not talking to her though." He stated.

"Why not?" The feather duster grumbled as she glared at him, "You talked to her fine last time."

"Did I? Did I really? Because she went all crazy and did some weird science thing and I slept in a hole for the night." Gajeel snapped at her, quite clearly not amused.

"She's not very social." The duster sighed a little bit.

"Neither am I. I don't make people sleep in holes." Gajeel countered, but truth be told, there were some times where he wanted to make people sleep in holes. Or with the fishes at least. He at least had some self restraint. This brat didn't. She was probably spoiled out of her mind when she was younger. Always having to get her way. She didn't know the hardships of life. Not like Gajeel did.

"You were pretty rude yourself." She said in a defensive tone as Gajeel finally lifted his foot up and she squirmed away from him. She gave him a harsh glare before standing up, somehow. She didn't have any arms nor did she turtle herself up. Yet, she was still able to easily stand up without having any legs. What a weird machine.

"Oh well. I'm always rude." Gajeel snapped back, using that as his counter.

The feather duster just snorted at his response, "Seriously? That's your excuse? That's an awful excuse. You're not exactly the most creative guy are you?" She asked in a sassy and judgmental tone.

Gajeel glared down lightly at her, not liking her accusation of him not being creative. She didn't know him. She didn't know anything about him. She was a robot.

"Who cares what you think." Gajeel said with some venom in his voice, giving her a harsh glare before he turned away from her. He heard a mumble behind him but he didn't care enough to look back. Instead he just started to walk, hoping to get out of the forest he didn't mean to come into. He didn't feel that it was necessary to talk to someone like her. A robot. And no he wasn't being prejudiced or anything because she was a girl or whatever, it was because she was a ROBOT.

"Why do you need a house anyways?" The feather duster asked, speaking loudly now so he could hear her. Gajeel stopped in his tracks and gave her a quick glance back, contemplating on if he should tell her. She wasn't a living thing though, so she wouldn't have curiousity. Gajeel didn't want to waste his breath or energy on a sassy little robot. Besides, she might just be gathering intel for her boss.

"Hey!" She called out as Gajeel kept walking. He heard some movement of the leaves behind him so he figured she was following him much to his displeasure.

Gajeel sped up his pace a bit, figuring he could outrun a feather duster. He just wasn't in the mood to try and explain anything to an inanimate object. Not like she needed to know anyways. Wasn't any of her business.

A slight squeal was heard as a yellow blob came falling out of a tree and in front of Gajeel,crunching more leaves as it fell to the ground. He stopped in his tracks then stared down at the feather duster, wondering what could have made her think that was a good idea at all.

He watched as she slowly rolled herself up, looking slightly dazed as she did. When she stood up, she looked around a little bit then back at Gajeel before falling back to the ground, surprisingly graceful. Especially since she seemed really out of it right now. Like she had hit her head hard. But she only fell on leaves.

Realization dawned at him on how tiny she was compared to him. The fall would've been a whole lot longer for her than it had been for him. That might've been him falling off a house basically. His head shook lightly as he crouched down then picked her up, keeping her steady in his large hands. Her body twitched slightly before she looked over at him. She looked a bit tense at first before giving up and letting her eyes close again. Gajeel wasn't sure if that was her trusting him or just having no strength to fight it.

Either way worked for him.

His feet moved in front of him still, continuing his pace until he found the path to go back to the village. The man's eyes fell down to see the feather duster asleep in his arms. He shook his head slightly but couldn't stop the smile that crept onto his face as he made it out of the forest...just before nightfall too.


	10. Chapter 10

It was cozy. The air was warm and the smell of homemade beef stew lingered in the air. It felt very homey and just safe in general.

A soft moan escaped from the little feather duster as she smiled in her sleep, basking in the heat in the air around her. She laid on a face cloth, which seemed to be a make shift bed for the girl. It made no difference to her in her sleeping state, since she couldn't tell the difference. The bed she'd normally sleep on wasn't too much different anyways. True she did have a bed, but she would normally have to find some place quiet since Natsu would keep going into her room instead. Which was just a pain in the butt itself.

Her eyes slowly started to open, her vision hazy at first but it soon cleared up. When she saw where she was...she had no idea where she was. It was a house, that was evident enough. Whose house, she had no clue about that part.

It wasn't the cleanest exactly. Books and papers thrown around a bit. Dust hidden on the ground and it was quite clear that dirt was attempted to be swept under the rug. Seems like whoever cleaned this house gave up in the middle of it because there was still just a clump of dirt in front of the carpet.

Lucy cringed at the dirtiness of the house, detesting whoever was the cleaner. It just made her feel pain inside, a pain in her stomach. Well who could exactly blame her, she was a feather duster after all. Of course she would want to see things clean.

Well truthfully, that didn't exactly explain it, but it was Lucy's excuse.

"WHY THE **_BLEEP_** WON'T YOU **_BLEEPING_** WORK? YOU **_BLEEPING BLEEPERHEAD!_** " A familiar voice screamed from nearby, in the other room. It took a few moments for Lucy to actually register who was speaking, but it didn't take too long. She quickly remembered that annoying donkey.

She shook her head lightly before sitting up and looking down, noticing that she was on a desk. A breath escaped her while looking down, noticing the height. It wasn't incredibly high, but it wasn't exactly a safe distance to jump from.

A light groan came from her lips while she looked down then glanced to the side to notice a couch nearby. It wasn't too high up from the ground, a lot lower than the desk was at least. Why couldn't he have just placed her there instead? Another eye roll came from the girl before she looked around her to see if there was any safer way down.

There wasn't. There wasn't even a chair she could jump to.

She sighed even more then laid back down, not defeated but just..exasperated. Tired.

"Big guy!" Lucy yelled out, hoping he would hear her over all of his cursing. And whatever that metal banging sound was. If she wasn't able to get down without getting hurt like she did last time, the reason she passed out, then she was getting him to bring her down. Even if it was slightly embarrassing, she didn't want to do that again. What if she was knocked unconscious again then ended up at another guy's house?

It probably wouldn't happen, but just in case. Plus getting knocked out was pretty bad just in itself.

The metal banging sound slowed to a stop, as did some of the curses. Or at least the curses got quieter. It took a few moments, but the big black haired man eventually came through the door of the room.

A dirty look was worn on his face, but it wasn't towards Lucy exactly. It just seemed to be in general. That was a relief. She wouldn't want to be stuck in a weirdo's house and have him be angry at her. Especially when he was ten times her size. That wouldn't end well for her.

"You're awake." Gajeel mumbled with a raised eyebrow, like he was surprised that Lucy had regained consciousness.

"...Yes." Lucy nodded, a bit unnerved by the look he was giving her. It wasn't just a little surprise put on his face, it was a lot. Like he didn't think she would've ever woken up. Which was highly creepy.

He frowned slightly then a part of his bottom lip started to move inwards to his mouth. Like he was chewing on it from the inside. His face showed he was pondering, but Lucy didn't know what about. Only a few moments passed before he grabbed her by, well what should be her body but was basically just the handle now, and lifted her up. At first, Lucy had thought that he was going to place her on the ground, but he didn't. Instead he started walking, right back into the room he came from.

"W-What are you doing?" She stuttered nervously and glanced up at him. His face was bland but his eyes showed that he was still deep in thought. Calculating.

"I'm going to find out how you work." He answered without hesitation as he entered into his study, talking like what he said was a casual sentence. He didn't have to walk too much before making it over to his large desk and placed Lucy lying down on it.

She widened her eyes and went to stand up but he held her down with his own hand. "What do you mean?" She asked him, obviously frightened about this. He seemed...like a psychopath right now...

"Well I'm going to take you apart to see how your master does it." Gajeel explained to her like it was obvious. However, it was not as obvious as he thought. One may even call it creepy.

"Excuse me?" Lucy asked, trying to sound intimidating but the squeak in her voice didn't help that at all.

"You're a robot. I'm going to take you a part then try to put you back together."

She huffed at that, slightly offended, "I am NOT a robot."

"Right." He snorted which clearly said that he didn't believe her.

Lucy rolled her eyes at the snort, quite annoyed now. However the annoyance suddenly turned into fear when Gajeel pulled out a screw driver from his tool bag sitting next to his legs.

"Keep that away from me." Lucy said quickly when she saw it, trying to squirm some more but his large hand continued to pin her down. When the situation actually started to click into her head more. That she was being attacked by this mad man...she decided to scream.

Her scream was piercing and louder than one would've thought could come from a tiny feather duster, but it even made the large man wince. It wasn't a lot though. It was definitely not enough for him to let her go. He did weaken his grip but not enough for it to let her loose.

Lucy's eyes slammed shut and she bit her lip, or whatever it was, then waited for the inevitable. But it never seemed to come. Instead the smell of burning hair lingered in the air...


	11. Chapter 11

It took a moment before Gajeel could react to the scent of burning hair. At first he thought it was just his imagination. That this wasn't actually happening again. Then he started to think that maybe he was smelling something else and he was mistaking it for burning hair. However, when his butt started to burn, that's when he finally accepted the fact that his hair was on fire. Again.

He looked down at grabbed the end of his hair, not touching the fire, then grabbed a nearby cloth and tried to pat it out with that. It took a few seconds, but it eventually worked out for him.

His whole body turned around, a hand still pinning the robot down, and scanned the room for the culprit. It was no secret who the culprit was...especially since this bolt of lightning had already struck once. His eyes kept moving a around for a bit before he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. When he glanced over...he saw a candle stick and its wax flying for his face.

Reflexes kicked in and he removed his other hand from the robot, since it was his dominant hand, and smacked the candlestick out of the air. It hit the wall and fell down, the fire on its tips were still blazing though. Luckily the fire hadn't spread to any of Gajeel's furniture.

Gajeel reached over a metal bar that sat beside his little desk there and grabbed onto it. He wrapped one hand around it before lifting it up and walking over to where the pink little candle was laying, still recovering from his fall. Gajeel lifted his metal bar over his head and a whooshing sound was heard as he quickly went to slam it down on the candle. The sound of cracking wood emerged as his bar collided into the floor instead of the candle. He winced slightly when he saw the new hole in his floor, where the candle once laid.

"Haha." The candle grinned, off to the side now, looking highly smug at his dodge. His smugness just made Gajeel more irritated with the flaming thing.

"Get back here." He growled and whipped the bar over to the side, successfully hitting the metal part that held the wax up. The candle slammed into the wall, a slight crack breaking into the wall, before it fell down to the ground, leaving some wax hanging there. It groaned slightly as Gajeel walked over, a smirk growing onto Gajeel's face without shame. He had gotten that damned candle, who cares that it was just a candle? He had sucked away the smugness the candle held before and ended up using it himself.

"Ow..." The candle mumbled and looked up at Gajeel, who now had the bar raised above his head, about to slam it down on the candle.

But it didn't happen. Instead, a hard smack got him in the back of his head and his arms started to weakly fall to his sides, dropping the bar when they did. His eyes blurred slightly as he looked around, trying to see what hit him. Yet he saw nothing. Instead, he just walked over to the side and tried to grab onto something, knowing that his legs were about to give out. His fingers couldn't grip onto anything though.

Soon, darkness took over his vision before he finally went toppling to the ground.

* * *

 _"Daddy! Daddy!" A young child yelled as he entered his house, a look of excitement on his face as if it was Christmas morning. To that child, it may as well have been._

 _He quickly ran into house and glanced around the room he was in first, noticing that there was no body there but he didn't suspect there to be anyone anyways. He then ran into his father's study, where he would normally spend his time._

 _Just as he thought, a figure stood in front of the metal desk, completely over towering it as he wrote some stuff into his notes before pulling out his measuring tape. He slowly measured a small scrap of metal, barely the size of the young child's arm, then wrote it in his notepad beside him as well. He did a few times, measuring each side of the small scrap. He was a precise man. The child admired it._

 _"Daddy!" The child said with excitement again, his fingers carefully clutching the small object in his tiny hands. He didn't want to drop it. He didn't want to break it._

 _It took a few moments for the words to sink into the older man's head, but he finally glanced over when they did. It wasn't for long, just enough to acknowledge his son before going back to his work. "Yes?" He questioned, his eyes fixated on his piece of metal again._

 _"Look at what I made!" The boy said enthusiastically and held out the small item for his father to see. It was a few pieces of wood nailed together with little drawings on it, a picture frame. Or an attempt at one at least._

 _"Hm?" The dad questioned with a raised eyebrow as he looked over again. It wasn't long this time either, but it was longer than last time. It didn't take much for him to observe every little detail of the picture frame. Every little strength and every little flaw it had, "Does it work?"_

 _"Mhm." The boy exclaimed with a large grin, happy that his father didn't have to ask what it was like many of the other kids around town. His father understood him. Even if he didn't always seem there, he was listening. He understood._

 _"How?" The father asked him._

 _The boy smiled lightly as he pulled out a crumbled up piece of paper from his back pocket then started to uncrumple it up as much as he could. He started to try and slide it into the little slit he had made in between the wooden pieces. It took quite a bit of effort but it finally made it through to the other side. "See!" The boy told happily and proudly displayed his accomplishment._

 _A small smile grew on his father's face as he placed his own wooden piece and held his hand out to receive the little frame. The boy willingly gave it to the man, his smile still plastered onto his face._

 _His father pulled it closer to him, slowly examining it. He examined each little part of it, each corner, each nail, and even how each piece of wood was trimmed. He was honestly examining it as best as he could._

 _"It's good." He stated as he placed a hand on his son's head before giving it back to him, "But I'm sure we can improve it, eh son?"_

 _The boy nodded with the biggest grin on his face._

 _"Aye!"_


	12. Chapter 12

Levy wasn't the type of person to exactly...go outside. Don't get her wrong, she loved sunshine. She loved nature. She basically loved everything about the outdoors. It was just...that it scared her. The people on the outside scared her so much. She was terrified. It wasn't that Levy hated them or anything, she had just grown an immense amount of fear for real people. Especially after that night...

So when she had seen a giant lizard dragging in a familiar man with a pink candle and yellow feather duster following behind from the window, she was very hesitant on going out to check. Temptation was trying to urge her into sending one of the furniture servants out to go check out what that moron Natsu was doing. Yet for some reason, something pushed her away from that thought. Something wanted her to go out and find out for herself.

She wasn't sure what that something was, but she knew it had been bothering her for longer than this. That man that the lizard was dragging in, he kept playing in her head. His face would pop up in her thoughts, in her dreams. She couldn't get rid of him. And seeing him in person again...it made her feel relieved...yet cursed at the same time. She couldn't quite describe the feeling herself.

It was strange, yet the temptation to stay inside won out. Whatever that strange feeling was, it wasn't strong enough.

"Levy?" A voice mumbled.

The bluenette glanced down to see the familiar chipped blue cup. She looked curious but a bit worried too. It was normal though, the little cup was normally like this. She was so sweet.

"The moron's back, Wendy." Levy told her with a shake of her head, watching out the window again as they got closer to the door, "And he brought a friend this time."

Wendy blinked a few times before trying to jump up onto a few times to see out of the window too. Her attempts ended up in failures so Levy eventually bent down and picked up the little tea cup before bringing her up so that she could see better. Or at all.

The little teacup shook her head lightly, having the same expression as Levy when she first saw what going on. "I'm surprised Lucy-san let him." Wendy said honestly, looking up so that she could see Levy's face.

The bluenette shrugged lightly, still holding the little teacup in her hands. "I'm not. Lu-chan tends to do things like this even if she knows it's idiotic, she keeps him safe in her own way, " Levy replied with a sigh before continuing on, "Plus I think I saw her try to sneak out first then Natsu left because he got curious or upset that she left without him."

"Why would she have left?" Wendy asked with a curious expression on her tea cup face, watching as Natsu got closer to the door, the lizard still pulling the annoying man. Levy had to give them credit for creativity, she didn't think that she herself would've been able to think of using a lizard to transport someone. How they got the lizard to do what they wanted though...that was beyond Levy.

Natsu's weird, leave it at that.

"I have a feeling Lu-chan is trying to play match maker." Levy grumbled as she watched Lucy try to reach the door knob to open it. However, the girl wasn't even half way up to the knob even when she was jumping. Levy wondered whether or not she had actually thought this plan out. Lucy was a smart girl, not as smart as Levy but she had more common sense than some of the numskulls living the mansion, yet sometimes Natsu rubbed off too much on her.

"Should we help?" Wendy asked, looking out the window before glancing back up at Levy. By 'we' she had meant Levy since there wasn't much the little tea cup could do. She was even smaller than Lucy.

"I suppose." Levy sighed lightly before crouching down and letting Wendy jump back onto the ground. After making sure that the little cup was alright, Levy pushed herself into a standing position again then started to walk, being careful to step over Wendy. Levy could hear the little bumps of the tea cup jumping forward to move along with Levy, probably curious as well. So Levy walked a bit slower than she normally would've, letting the girl walk behind her still.

The two were silent as they walked down the long staircase, Levy's eyes fixated on the door in front of them. From what she could see out of the windows beside the door, Natsu was trying to break the door down. As if he had forgotten that he was just a candle. That wasn't surprising though, especially since it was Natsu.

Levy made her way to the door, standing in front of it for a few moments, a part of her urging her not to open the door. It would be easy to ignore it, to instruct the others to ignore it as well. Let them stay out for the night as punishment for doing something against her wishes. Yet...she could feel it in the air. She could feel the chill that flew around even if she stayed in her home all the time. It wasn't hard to tell...winter was coming.

True, they didn't have actual bodies so they wouldn't actually be able to die from the cold, but they would still be able to feel it. And the man would also die. Levy wasn't cruel enough to let that happen.

She wrapped her hand around the smooth ball of wood then turned it over until she heard the click. At the sound of the click, Levy pulled on the door and let it open. A blast of wind gushed into her face with the scent of winter lingering in. She felt herself exhale at the smell, just taking in the scent now. Letting the fresh air pass through her lungs and out again. It was almost like the cool air had engulfed her completely. The feeling passed quickly though and Levy felt a little bit more...normal. At least how she had felt before she had opened the door.

Levy couldn't even remember the last time she had actually opened this door though. The fresh air she never experienced, the sun, the sound of the birds chirping, was all like a slap in the face for the bluenette. It felt good, but it was overwhelming. Yet it only lasted a split second and it was gone. It was like Levy had been there the whole time. She felt...comfortable.

"Let him in..." Levy groaned as she looked down at the two guilty culprits. Lucy looked away sheepishly as Natsu nodded and gestured for the lizard, whom Levy has deemed to be a salamander after getting close to it, to walk in. Levy stepped to the side and watched casually as the salamander pulled in a strange man with two walking appliances following behind it.

"How did Natsu-ni..?" Wendy questioned curiously as she watched the salamander come in but she stopped herself from asking the actual question.

"I don't know Wendy." Levy told her, knowing the question, "I just don't know."


	13. Chapter 13

The voices were back. The familiar and irritable voices that echoed in his dreams, but only recent ones. The same voices that seemed to be the reason he woke up the past few mornings. The voices he dreaded to hear.

 _"Are you sure the ropes are tied well?"_ The female again. Gajeel's head pounded, his memory's feeling kind of hazy so he couldn't quite pin a face to the voice but he remembered it. It gave him an painful feeling to remember it too.

 _"Obviously **I** tied them didn't I?" _The male replied arrogantly to her. This voice gave him an even worse feeling, but it sent an image of pink through his head for some reason.

 _"That's why I'm worried about them."_ The female said in a sassy tone, Gajeel almost being able to actual hear her eye roll.

 _"Shut up, he's waking up."_ It was a feminine voice again, but it wasn't the female voice that he had gotten familiar with. This one was different. It wasn't completely foreign, he had heard it before, but not when he was waking up like this. His waking up self wasn't used to this voice yet.

His eyelids started to open without him even realizing what was going on, his vision hazy when they first opened. Slowly, his sleepy eyes traced across the room but wasn't soaking anything in. Everything around him was blurry for the first few moments that his eyes were open but things soon came into focus.

The two talking appliances were what he saw first, the candle and the feather duster. Upon seeing them, he remembered instantly who they were. Then he noticed the room that surrounded him, not recognizing at all where he was. Nor did he even remember coming into this room. A frown tugged at his lips as he looked around a bit more before finding the owner of the third voice he had heard. The girl with blue hair. He remembered her too, not as well as the appliances, but he had seen her before. She was that girl he dreaded..

"My head..." Gajeel groaned as his vision before more focused so that he could see everything more clearly now, his attention still on the blue girl in front of him. The only other human in the room.

"Oh he is awake!" The pink candle exclaimed and came closer to Gajeel, his beady eyes staring at the black haired man with annoyance tinted in them. What that ass robot had to be annoyed about was out of Gajeel's comprehension.

"Where am I?" He growled, glaring down at the candle.

"Back home." The candle replied with a big but taunting grin planted on his 'face', "Well ours not yours. Since you tried to kill Lucy after all."

"I didn't try to kill her." Gajeel exclaimed and rolled his eyes at the ignorant candle, "I was trying to take her apart to see how she works." He deadpanned.

"Righttt." The candle said and narrowed his eyes, "Because that's totally not killing her."

"She's not alive. She can't die. She's a robot."

"You rude ass Lucy is not a robot."

"She obviously is."

"No she's not. If she is then I am too." The candle huffed.

Gajeel stared at him, his face dull and annoyed, and spoke, "Yeah you are."

The candle widened his eyes then let out a gasp, jumping backwards as he continued to stare at Gajeel with an astonished expression, "Take that back." He ordered harshly.

"Why should I take back the truth?" Gajeel said and raised an eyebrow down at the candle, an amused smirk tugging at his lips as he watched the candle huff and puff at Gajeel. The candle was furious and Gajeel had no shame in saying that he was finding it to be pretty entertaining.

"It's not the truth!" He whined at Gajeel then looked over at his feather duster friend, who just seemed to be annoyed with the two of them bickering, "Tell him to knock it off!"

"Why would he listen to me?" The feather duster replied with her own question, giving the candle a deadpan look.

"Because you're Lucy." The candle mumbled then started to pout a little, looking away from them all.

The duster just sighed at him but she didn't reply, instead she glanced up at the blue haired girl who was staring intently down at Gajeel. He wasn't able to read what her face said exactly. It seemed to be a bit annoyed and exhausted, but she seemed curious as well. There was no clear reason for her to be curious, not to Gajeel at least. He had many things to be curious about. Yet she should have most of those answers anyways.

"What's your name?" The girl asked, her gaze on Gajeel's eyes as he ended up staring awkwardly back at her. His brain couldn't find an answer and his tongue refused to speak any words. He felt as if he was in a daze. Maybe it was because his head was pounding and he hadn't realized until that second.

"Crap..." The man grumbled and brought his hand up to the back of his head, gently stroking the tender part until he winced. It wasn't bleeding, which was good, nor did it seem too bad. He had a feeling he would get a pretty big bruise on his head though. "Did you do that?" Gajeel asked, snapping his gaze over at the candle who was still pouting and having a temper tantrum.

"Do what?" The candle asked as he glanced up to see Gajeel pointing at the back of his head, "If you're talking about that bald spot then no I didn't do it. You were probably born with it." He answered with an annoyed eye roll.

A tick mark formed on Gajeel's forehead and he glared over at the candle, "I do NOT have a bald spot."

"Mhm. Sure." The candle rolled his eyes again.

Gajeel huffed and reached over to grab the infuriating pink candle but he pulled his hand back when his head started to pound at the movement. He put his hand against his warm head instead, letting his head lean on his blistered palms, trying to calm it down a little bit wasn't working out a whole lot. His head still hurt and his hands didn't even get warmed up a bit.

"Are you alright?" A voice asked, different this time. It was a girl voice, but it sounded younger. More innocent than the others. Gajeel glanced up to try and find where the voice came from to see a chipped tea cup resting beside the blue haired girl.

"What?" Gajeel mumbled while staring at the tea cup, who seemed to be a little nervous.

"Are you alright?" The girl repeated with a frown growing upon her ceramic face, "You look like you've injured your head."

"I guess." Gajeel grumbled and gave a shrug as well, not really caring anymore since it just ended up with him fighting a friggen candle.

The tea cup continued to frown then started to hop over to Gajeel. He gave her a blank look but the girl didn't care. It was like all of the nervousness she had before while looking at Gajeel had been wiped away. Confidence now took over on her face. It was odd to see. Especially with a tea cup.

She went to behind him and Gajeel glanced back to see her but when he did, she moved over to be right behind his head. Gajeel just sighed and turned his head back around so the little cup could do whatever it was she was doing.

"Your head looks a bit tender there. Did someone hit you?" The tea cup asked.

"That's what I was asking the stupid candle." Gajeel answered, though he wasn't sure why he was even talking to the tea cup. Or anything for that matter. "If he hit me or not."

"I'm pretty sure Natsu did." The tea cup sighed, "Well it doesn't look so good. You might have a concussion..." She paused then looked over at the blue haired girl, "He might need to stay here for a bit..."

"What?" Both Gajeel and the blue haired girl growled at the same time.

"If you have a concussion then you should relax for a while but have someone with you most of the time." The tea cup stated and looked up at him, Gajeel now glancing back at her, "Do you have someone to take care of you?"

Gajeel frowned but didn't answer that question.

"That's a no." The pink candle spoke up, receiving a glare from the pierced man.

Which only meant it was true.

Gajeel had no one to help him, but he wasn't really one to take help anyways. However, he was supposed to get all of his crap out of his house and people might come over, annoying pushy people reminding him to get out. If he really did have a concussion, Gajeel didn't really want to get into a fight with anyone. He'd still win, but he might get hurt.

"Levy-chan." The tea cup said, her voice going more quiet...more cute, "Can he please stay for a little while? Just so I can keep an eye on his injuries."

The blue haired girl, Levy, frowned as all eyes turned to her, even Gajeel's. The room was silent, only the breathing of the two humans were audible. No one really knew what she would say.

"Fine."


	14. Chapter 14

A day had passed since he surprisingly agreed to stay at some freaky lady's house. He had no idea why he agreed to this, how he was manipulated into agreeing to this. Well he just assumed he was manipulated, to be honest. He didn't have much recollection of what happened the other day. Everything after trying to take apart that robot got a bit hazy. He remembered some of the conversation with a tea cup and a salamander. He didn't have a conversation with a salamander but he had faint memories of one.

When he had woken up that morning with most of his memories stacked away, he had gotten quite confused. He was in a strange house again and his head hurt. His vision was hazy and it was just hard to try and think in general. It was a pain in the butt. At first, he had panicked and tried to get out of bed but it was like a wave of dizziness swept over him, forcing him to lay down again. His head spun and he groaned in the pain that emerged from his head. Fortunately, a talking tea pot that was oddly familiar came into the room and explained to him the situation. At the words, most of his memory had come back and he was able to relax...a little bit at least.

"How are you feeling?" The tea cup beside him asked as he continued to lay in the bed that he had woken up in, not wanting to move. Despite the eery looking appearance on the outside and inside of the castle, the room he was in was a bit...different. It was a tiny bit more colourful, with paintings of flowers hung across the walls. The flowers were mainly black and red, but they were really good. Especially the shading and the shadows. It was unbelievably good.

"Fine." Gajeel mumbled, his eyes tracing around the room still curiously. There was still black and darker colour decor, but it seemed different. Like it was once alive...but had faded away. Yet at the same time, it still felt lively.

"Levy-chan's old boyfriend used this room." The tea cup replied when she saw his eyes move around the room. Examined the room.

"That brat used to have a boyfriend?" Goro asked in surprise, no shame in his words. He didn't bring his attention over to the tea cup when he talked, instead he just kept his gaze in the room. Finding it much more interesting than he should have.

"Yeah. He was...odd." The tea cup answered him with a light nod before smiling again, "But friendly for the most part. He was kind of quiet too and reminds me a little about you. He wore a lot of black too."

"Oh?" Gajeel questioned and glanced over at her, "Am I as odd?"

"Odder." The girl replied confidentially and nodded again.

Gajeel shrugged, accepting that answer. It made sense anyways, he didn't really expect a different answer.

"So what happened to him then?" Gajeel questioned, putting his attention on her again for a brief moment before pulling it back over to the flower paintings. They weren't incredibly detailed, from far away they looked a bit like blobs, but they still...seemed to quite nice even without all the detail. It was odd to think about.

"We don't talk about it..." The tea cup mumbled, her tone become more like a whisper as her eyes fell down, looking at the desk that she was standing on top of instead. Gajeel frowned as she went silent but stopped himself from talking about the subject again. He still curious about it, obviously, but it was hard to push on something when those adorable little eyes looked upset. Was it weird to refer to the eyes of a robot as adorable? Gajeel didn't think much about it.

"So how long do I have to be here?" Gajeel asked her, switching the subject quickly as his finger started to play around with the blanket laying on top of him. It traced circles against the soft fabric then started to pick at it. He felt the tea cup's eyes move over to watch the finger for a moment before moving back to his face. She seemed confused but Gajeel didn't care too much, it was just him letting out some energy.

"Only for a few days." The tea cup assured with a light smile, "You do have a concussion but we can fix it up right away."

"Are you the doctor robot then?" Gajeel asked with a snort since she was the only robot that was helping him out, at least that he knew about.

"Robot?" The tea cup questioned, giving him a curious look. Almost like a lost puppy.

"Yeah. Robot." Gajeel nodded, "Didn't your master ever actually tell you that you're a robot? Or do you just not know the word? If so than she didn't create you guys to be super intelligent, huh?"

The tea cup squinted her eyes at him before a figurative light bulb popped over her head, "Ohhh you think we're robots?"

"Well duh." Gajeel snorted, getting the hint that these guys didn't actually know. In his opinion, that was kind of cruel not to tell them. To let them think that they were alive, normal...well not people. Gajeel had a feeling that they knew they weren't normal people at least. Though he was curious on what story she told them for them to believe that they're alive.

"We're not." The tea cup said, no hint of a lie in her tone. Gajeel concluded the fact that 'Levy' did indeed lie to them.

"Oh?" Gajeel raised an eyebrow, pretending to be interested when he already knew the truth.

"We were once people but due to a curse, we became objects." The tea cup deadpanned, no hint of a lie again.

"Oh really?" Gajeel mused while trying to hide his ever growing smirk.

The tea cup just nodded, not getting his disbelief, "Mhm."

"And what curse was that?" He questioned, playing the game.

"Well it's kind of hard to explain..." The tea cup mumbled with a frown before her eyes looked around for a moment and smiled, "I know! I'll show you!" She exclaimed enthusiastically before finding her way off the desk. She jumped quite a few paces before making it to a small bookshelf that was lying on its side, taking up almost the entire wall. The tea cup searched for a little bit before smiling when she found the book. Attempting to use her body to pull it out, Gajeel reached over a little bit despite his aching head and pulled it out for her.

The tea cup smiled in gratitude before using her head to push the cover open then flipped through a few pages using her head. After flipping through around twenty, she jumped onto the book and near the front.

Her eyes turned completely white before she spoke the words in another voice, a language foreign to Gajeel.

 _"Ostendere in praeteritis."_

Then the whole world around Gajeel dissolved.

 **Any guesses on the boyfriend?~**

 **Also for anyone that actually knows the language spoken up there, I used google translate. So if anything's wrong with it blame google translate.**


	15. Chapter 15

He wasn't in the same place anymore, at least not the room. The place he was in looked eerily familiar. It was like a castle, like the one he was in moments ago, but...it was different. It didn't seem as dreary, there were more lights and colours. It was more...happy.

Gajeel glanced around, noticing that he was still sitting in a bed but the tea cup was no where to be seen. Actually, he wasn't able to see anyone around him.

"This is insane." A girl mumbled from another room. Gajeel frowned at the voice, he didn't recognize it at all.

"It doesn't have to be." A non familiar male voice exclaimed from the same room.

"Shut up.." The girl grumbled at him. The man didn't reply but Gajeel started to hear footsteps. He watched over at the door where he heard the voices coming from and waited. Soon, two figures emerged. One of them was a more petite woman with light blue hair, like Levy's. The man had blonde hair but brown eyes that also matched Levy's. Odd.

The two people were in each other's arms, holding each other passionately as they stared into their eyes. They both looked hopelessly in love, but the man also seemed to be a bit nervous. It wasn't too obvious, but he just gave off a feeling like that. It was strange to feel.

"What are we going to do?" The girl mumbled with a sigh and rested her head against his chest, her eyes showing the depression she held underneath.

"We could run away, like I've said." The man exclaimed, pulling her a little closer as he let his hand slide down to her waist. The girl stayed silently for a little bit and hugged him tighter.

"You know we can't..." She grumbled as she held back tears. The man didn't reply that time and leaned back a little until his back hit the wall. He continued holding the girl in his arms even while he looked away and she finally let the tears fall from her eyes. The man rubbed her back but he didn't do much more than that to comfort her.

As the two sulked in each other's arms, the front door to the castle flew open. A woman with long green hair emerged from the doorway. She looked calm at first, casually brushing off the snow flakes from her shoulder but when she saw the two...her expression became furious.

"You bastard!" The woman cursed, glaring hard at the two lovebirds. The man jerked his head back, eyes widening at the voice. His head turned to the woman and just stared at her. He opened his mouth to speak but only a small squeak came out.

The woman's glare only worsened as she walked towards the two, her fist clenched. She didn't bother to take off her winter coat or boots, they weren't important to her at the moment. The man widened his eyes and instinctively pulled the girl in his armed closer but that only made the woman more furious.

"I-I-" He stuttered but he couldn't finish his sentence. He couldn't find any words to express himself.

"I curse you." The woman exclaimed with a venomous tone as she pointed at the man, a light green fire emitting from the pointing finger, "I curse you and your family. I curse your entire bloodline."

She glanced over at the girl in his arms. Gajeel expected her to get mad but her tone only softened a little, "Sweet child..." she mumbled and placed her other hand against her forehead, "I do not blame you."

The girl paled at the contact but kept quiet.

"But you'll suffer in the curse as well. I apologize." The woman sighed and pulled her hand back, actually seeming to have sympathy on the girl which surprised Gajeel to be honest. Most would blame the girl as well as the one who cheated. Gajeel actually had a little respect for the woman however it was clear that her sympathy didn't go as far as actually taking away the curse so the girl wouldn't have to suffer as well.

The man didn't say anything but he ended up letting go of the girl in his hands, no longer trying to protect her. Gajeel almost instantly lost some respect for him because of that.

"You are cursed to suffer a fate where every human you love suffers." She exclaimed as rage danced in her eyes, "Your whole bloodline shall have this curse. The longer your bloodline goes on, the worse it gets."

"Why are you doing this?" The man asked with a horrified expression.

"Because you're a cheating bastard." She grumbled and the scene changed.

It shifted so that they were in a forest. The leaves were only starting to turn orange as the soil in the ground was more moist. The sun was shining brightly, peering through the trees to get to the ground. There were three different people that time underneath the autumn trees. Two of them were laying on the ground, barely seven years old. One had black and the other boy had orange hair with a goofy hat on. Beside them was a girl on knees, a girl around the same age with blue hair, crying over the two. At first, Gajeel was confused, but then he had noticed the red blood stains on the soil underneath the two boys.

The scene changed again and they were back at the castle. It was in a room Gajeel hadn't seen before. The walls were pink and there were books everywhere, in the actual book shelf and scattered on the ground. In the middle of the room with a single bed with yellow blankets on top and a girl underneath. Only her head was showing but it revealed the light blue hair again. The same girl from the last scene. The little girl was asleep but there were tear stains all down her cheek. Beside the bed, there was another woman. The woman from the first scene, the one that had cast the spell. She had her hand on the little girl's head calmly.

"I'm sorry my dear." Was the only thing she said before the scene changed again.

Next, they were outside the castle. The woman with green hair and little girl sat in the garden, the man and girl from the beginning were no where to be found. The little girl was sitting on her butt, not caring about getting her orange little dress dirty as she played around with a few flowers. The woman smiled as she watched the little girl, leaning back and using her arms to support herself.

"Are you having fun?" The woman asked the little girl.

The little girl nodded with a big smile before it slowly started to fade, "I wish Mommy and Daddy were here..." she mumbled.

The woman frowned and placed her hand on the girl's head again, "I'm sorry sweetie. Your curse is worse. Stronger..."

"I don't want a curse!" The girl yelled, sounding angry now. Not at the woman but just in general. She slammed her hand on the ground, the flower that was once in her hand started to wilt.

The woman sighed, "I know. But...your father...he did something horrible. I'm sorry but you have to pay the cost now. I know it's not fair but I can't break the curse of another. I can however...change it." she mumbled.

Gajeel couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the 'another' part. Was it not her that had cursed the little girl in the first place?

"Change?" The girl questioned and glanced up at the woman, tears welling up in her eyes. Even Gajeel couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

The woman nodded and ruffled up the girl's hair a bit, "If there is someone who can truly love you for six months despite what the curse throws at them, the curse will break. However if you can't before the age of twenty one...the curse will stay."

"Find someone to love me?" The girl mumbled, looking up at the woman again before she started to cry, "No one will love me..."

The woman pulled the little girl into a hug and let the tears stain her shirt. She rubbed her back before the scene changed once more on Gajeel.

However, now he was back in the bed and in the famliar room. The tea cup was placed beside him on the bed and looking up at him. Gajeel frowned then glanced down at her, "What the hell was that?"


	16. Chapter 16

"Well that's what happened!" The tea cup explained with a nod, as if what Gajeel had just saw was supposed to make perfect sense. True, he wasn't stupid enough to not realize that the little girl was Levy but the rest was just weird. He only got about a bit of it, if that.

"And that's supposed to explain it to me?" Gajeel questioned while raising an eyebrow with a perplexed expression at the tea cup.

The cup groaned lightly then shook her head, having the expression of an annoyed but mainly more exhausted appliance. Truthfully, Gajeel doubted that she had encountered questions like that despite them being so obvious. He just didn't believe that she had to tell many people this considering how deep the castle was in the forest. How secluded it was.

"Okay so basically Levy's dad had an affair with Levy's mom. The woman he was cheating on was a witch. She cursed Levy's dad so that he and anyone in his bloodline will watch their loved ones suffer. Levy got that curse because well he was her dad. She lost a few friends then her parents were burnt at the stake however Levy was spared. Then the witch decided to basically be her mom."

"And how does that explain you guys at all? Which is basically what it seemed like you were trying to show me." Gajeel replied with a deadpan look, just staring at the tea cup now. Maybe HE should be the one to get annoyed and exhausted.

"It didn't say?" The tea cup questioned curiously and tilted her head a little before shrugging it off and deciding to explain, "Well basically the curse said any humans so the witch gave Levy some friends...us. As long as we aren't human, her curse will not affect us."

"And this is believable because..." Gajeel gestured his hand for the tea cup to go on.

She gave him a little confused expression back at the hand, "Because there it's the truth? How else would we have been created? How else would you have just seen all of that had it not been magic? Is this really that hard to believe?" the tea cup questioned, her voice and tone still innocent as she spoke. She was generally curious about why he couldn't accept it in his head. Why it just wasn't able to get into his head.

"Well magic's not real, first of all." Gajeel pointed out and held out one finger as he continued counting, "And there are tons of plot holes. Why did the witch become Levy's mom if she hated her father? And if she really cared about Levy then she would've undone the spell completely instead of lying." Three fingers were up now.

"Isn't life full of plot holes?" She asked with a cute and innocent little hum, "After all...We can't truly understand the minds of others. Especially the wicked."

"Okay? So?" Gajeel questioned.

She sighed a little bit, "We don't know what the witch had in he remind, what her plan was or even is. We don't know anything about it. All we know is that it brought us to where we are now and we can only find out what will happen next."

"And what do you mean by that?" Gajeel questioned with a raised eyebrow.

The tea cup gave a big grin as she started to hop away, "You'll see!"

"What do you mean 'I'll see'?" Gajeel asked her but she didn't reply. She cut hopping on the bed, making no effect on it. Gajeel couldn't even feel any time of movement. She looked down as she got over to the edge and smiled as she jumped off with no hesitation. Gajeel widened his eyes and reached forward to grab her, despite the pain in his head, but he missed her. Then his eyes fell down to where she wouldn't landed and saw a pillow with a tea cup laying on it. He let out a breath of relief but cut it off short before she could see.

"Well have some rest, I've got to go now." The tea cup told him with a light smile planted on her face as she hopped off of the pillow and onto the ground. Gajeel didn't even remember there being a pillow placed there. When was it put there? He doubted that the tea cup could've done it, considering its size and such. Maybe he was just unable to notice it before.

As the tea cup hopped over to the open door, Gajeel couldn't help but feel sympathy for her. If what she had said was true then she must've had a hard life. Especially if she was actually alive. It would be hard for her to get around, she wouldn't be able to grow up, and she wouldn't get to explore the world. Or even the town. She was…trapped.

He couldn't help but despise Levy for that. It technically was her fault too. She didn't have to be selfish and have friends like that. If she truly cared for them wouldn't she let them go? It's not like not having friends was the end of the world. You could get along fine without them. Gajeel knew that, he had lived twenty of his years without any friends. Then he lost his father. It was possible for people to live their lives alone. She didn't have to make them suffer.

"Bye bye." The tea cup said with a happy smile before she left the room. The door closed a bit afterwards and he didn't even try to think about how the tiny little tea cup was able to close the giant ass door. He shook his head then let out a sigh before collapsing back onto the bed. His eyes close softly and took the tea cup's advice, letting exhaustion take him over again.

 **Hi guys. I hate to do this type of thing but I really want people to like it or get some feedback on it. It's my OS on fictionpress. If you like my writing and are interested in giving it a try, here's the link :D**

 **/s/3301782/1/To-Hell-with-the-Devil**

 **If not then don't worry about it and enjoy this story :).**


	17. Chapter 17

The ringing in his ears was annoying. It didn't stay forever, but it did come at random times and nothing he could do could fix it. There wasn't even a specific cause that he could find for the ringing. It just popped up. Whether he was in the washroom or whether he was back at the bed. It showed up.

Even with the ringing, he was happy that he was able to get up and move around. To walk a little bit at least without the tea cup fussing at him. He had tried to a little bit before when he wanted to grab a book from the book shelf but the tea cup walked in right at that moment. Actually, she wasn't the one to give him a lecture about his health. She got the tea pot to do it.

He would've rathered the tea cup.

Exploring around the house was kind of interesting, to be honest. There were lots of different rooms, some just bedrooms or guest rooms while others were pretty interesting. There was a study room that was larger than his...house with books all over the place. There were some containers of weird objects that he didn't really understand though. They were placed in containers and most of them were liquids. Strange coloured liquids like green or a deep pink. It was kind of weird to see.

Then there was the library. The library was bigger than two of his houses. Maybe even three. Whether it was as big as two or three houses, it didn't matter. The main point was that it was gigantic. And there wasn't a lot empty space around either, the room was filled. Either with table and chairs for places to read or with giant bookshelves where you actually needed a ladder to be able to get everywhere. Yet...even with with the gigantic library, there were still bookshelves in every single guest room.

Levy must love books.

Well, he supposed it did kind of make sense after all. She probably didn't have a lot of friends from the curse so she found sanctuary in books. In fictional friends. he couldn't help but wondered if she still tried to escape from her cruse through books when she had real friends. They weren't human but at least they were real. Alive.

Despite what he had believed before, Gajeel was actually starting to give in to the whole magic fact. After all, it did make sense. With all of his expertise, he wasn't able to figure out how she could make actual robots with an intelligence. It just couldn't come to him no matter how hard he tried. So why not magic? Even though it broke his pride, he really didn't know everything about the world. In a way...magic made sense.

He sighed slightly as he continued to stroll around the large house, his body still weak but it was better. He wasn't quite sure where was anymore. He had just been strolling along the castle with his head in the clouds, completely losing sight of what was around him until he came back to Earth. So he ended up somewhere in the castle that he hadn't gone before. He thought he had been there for two days, Gajeel still didn't know about every part of the castle. He doubted he could even if he had a week.

With a frown, Gajeel glanced around him before he just started walking again. As he walked along the dark hallway, Gajeel figured that he would be able to find out where he was if he just kept walking. Or maybe he'd walk somewhere that he was more familiar. Of course he might end up more lost but then he could just turn around. Walk a different way.

Either way, he would end out fine. It's not like he had much to do anyways. Scratch that, he had nothing to do. The stupid tea cup wouldn't let him out of the house until he was fully healed and Gajeel just couldn't find it in himself to argue her. It would be like arguing with a puppy.

No one won with a puppy argument.

"What the heck are you doing here?"

Gajeel snapped his head around at the sudden voice, alarmed at first but he let it fall slightly when he saw the bluehaired girl. Despite the time he had spent in the castle, he had rarely seen her. If he did, it was normally just a glimpse. Sometimes it was her leaving the room right when he walked in though.

The main point was that he rarely ever saw her.

"What?" Gajeel questioned as he stared at the girl, giving her a cold look. It wasn't freezing cold but he definitely wasn't being nice either. He didn't like this girl and he doubted that he would ever like her either. She was always so stuck up and cruel. He heard her tell at the appliances before he knew that she scoffed ever time they accidentally ended up in the same room. She was just plain rude.

"Why are you here?" Levy repeated as she held the same cold look that Gajeel had.

"I don't know. Why not?" Gajeel replied and let the cold expression drop as he shrugged. He was still ticked at her but expressing anger against may not be the smartest idea, not right away. Especially if she really was a witch. As long as he was able to control his temper he'd be fine.

"Because this part is restricted." She replied bitterly.

"Okay? Maybe you should've told me that then?" Gajeel told her, his tone condescending. He never really had a lot of willpower when it came to his tone. However, he couldn't help but smile at the thought of how not intimidating she was even when she was mad. It was amusing to see her try. It helped put his temper in place.

"Maybe you shouldn't be walking around MY house." She snapped back at him before narrowing her eyes down at his lips, "Why are you smiling?"

"I don't think you'll ever look scary." Gajeel stated calmly with no shame at all. The smile was still on his place before it grew into a smirk when she childishly puffed her bottom lip out in anger. "That's not helping your case." He added in then pointed over at her lip.

Levy let out a small huff and stomped her foot but she didn't say anything else. Gajeel couldn't tell because she was too embarrassed or because she was too mad about it. Either way, he didn't quite care.

Gajeel kept his smirk across his face as he watched Levy tear her gaze away from him. "Anyways," she grumbled and kept her eyes somewhere else with a softer tone, "You're not supposed to be here." she repeated.

"Why not?" He asked again even though she had already given him an answer.

"Because this part is restricted." She repeated herself again, crossing her arms and clearly getting frustrated but she kept her tone soft again. Gajeel guessed that it was just because she was still embarrassed or something.

"Why?" He questioned, his smirk falling as his casual expression grew onto his face. It was still amusing to watch her force her anger down so Gajeel couldn't tease her. If he really wanted to, he still could but he'd like to hear her reasoning. Plus if he overdid it then eventually it would become boring.

She stayed silent at first before letting out a sigh from her lips, either giving up or just not caring either more as she spoke, "It's a private area over here."

"Oh?" Gajeel questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Levy nodded but didn't continue on or explain anymore.

Gajeel stared at her for a quick moment before moving down the hallway more without a care in the world.

"Hey!" She called out and ran towards him, "Get back here!"

The smirk among Gajeel's face grew again as he wrapped his hand around the knob of the door that was at the end of the hallway he had walked into. He heard the fast footsteps of the girl behind him as he turned the knob until the door clicked open. Not caring in the slightest at the aura of rage echoing off the woman behind him, he let the door squeak open, only to be introduced to a scream.


	18. Chapter 18

There was a feather duster standing in front of the mirror, the familiar blonde feather duster that he had met and been annoyed by long ago. There were small clothes, doll clothes, laid out in front of her as she stood on the vanity mirror. A very large scream came form the small feather duster as her eyes turned back to look at Gajeel. Her eyes were wide as she continued to stare at him.

Not quite sure what to do but shocked by the scream, Gajeel took a step back and allowed the door to close without actually seeing the room.

"What the hell was that?" Gajeel questioned as he looked back at Levy who seemed to hold the same surprised expression he did.

"It sounded like Lucy." Levy mumbled with a light frown as she pushed past Gajeel and made it over to the door. With a light breath, she pushed the door open and peeked her head through, glancing around the room but the feather duster was already at the door by that time.

Her 'head' was staring up at Levy with an annoyed expression plastered onto it. Her eyes darted between Gajeel and Levy a few times before they fell on Levy, "What was he doing in your room?" she asked Levy suspiciously.

"What were you doing in my room?" Levy changed the question around without bothering to answer the feather duster. Or...Lucy's. If she was alive, then Gajeel supposed it would be more polite or at least easier for him to refer to her by her name.

"I asked first." Lucy replied with a light huff at Levy.

"Well it's my room." Levy emphasized with a smile. She wasn't as annoyed as she had been before. She almost seemed...happy, entertained. There was no more frustration evident on her face anymore, not as she looked down at the feather duster.

"I still asked first." Lucy stated with a nod, placing her hands on her hips now with a determined expression on her face now.

Levy stared down at her still before sighing and shaking her head, "Fine. He was going into my room because I told him not to."

Lucy glanced behind Levy to watch Gajeel, giving him a look before bringing her gaze back to Levy, "Are you okay Levy-chan?" she asked.

"I'm fine." Levy said with a nod.

"I didn't do anything." Gajeel grumbled lightly.

"Pervert." Lucy accused before turning back over to Levy again, "Are you sure you're okay?" she doubled checked with a stern look on her face.

Levy let out another sigh before just shaking her head at the yellow feather duster.

"So you're not okay!" The feather duster exclaimed at the shake of her head then shot a glare over at Gajeel. The glare from the little feather duster was even less intimidating than Levy had been before. There wasn't even a pinch of intimidation that she was letting despite her angry aura. The angry aura somehow actually made it even less intimidating.

"That's not what I meant." Levy sighed again, "You didn't let me finish."

"You didn't actually start." Gajeel corrected but neither of them listened to him, they were too busy with each other even though Levy was kind of defending Gajeel? Well she was being honest at least, so in a way it was defending Gajeel.

"I am fine." Levy repeated to Lucy, "He didn't do anything so stop snapping at him."

Lucy frowned a bit and brought her eyes over to Gajeel, examining him closely but angrily at the same time. Just watching him like she was debating something. Whether or not to trust him.

After deciding it in her head, she turned back to Levy with a now annoyed expression. Part of Gajeel thought that the feather duster decided not to trust him but honestly, he didn't care. The reason he was still in the house was because of the huffy tea cup so if the feather duster had a problem with it, she could take it up with her.

"I don't like him. Why is he here?" Lucy repeated her question again, ignoring Gajeel's sigh at the question that just kept popping up.

"He was wandering around." Levy answered her.

"Fine. But he can't come into your room." Lucy declared then brought her gaze right back to Gajeel again. She gave him a stern stare before pointing to the area behind him, "Leave now!" she ordered.

"Is this her room?" Gajeel questioned as his eyes were on the door out of curiousity.

"Obviously." Lucy stated with a huff.

"Then why can't I go in?" Gajeel asked questionably with a raised eyebrow, his tone slightly suspicious. Was there something for them to hide, a body perhaps? Maybe she had cruel and wicked experiments that she did in there? The more he thought about what there could be, the more curious and curious he would get until he reached past them and aimed for the door.

His hand wrapped around the doorknob before either of them could process what was going on, what he was doing. He turned it quickly, not giving them any time to let it sink into their heads. A small shout was head down from the feather duster in front of his feet but Gajeel paid her no attention. Instead, he just pushed on the door firmly and let it swing open entirely, curiousity having gotten the better of his senses.

As his eyes traced through the room further and further, they suddenly got wider while realizing what he was seeing. What the pink fabrics lying on the floor were. His body had frozen at he scene laid out before him, his brain no longer being able to process anything. Instead, it just shut down as a distinctive shade of red spread out amongst his face as his eyes were glued onto each aspect of the rumour. Had his brain been working then, he wasn't sure if he would've been able to even force himself to tear his eyes away. It was as if they had a mind of their own. A perverted and dirty mind that only worked to get Gajeel into more trouble than he was already in.

"You pervert!" A voice screeched behind him but the words never got to his ears. They just floated above his head.

"Pervert pervert pervert!" That voice was different, but the words still didn't get to him. His brain couldn't even try to let them come into his head. His ears had just shut down. His entire body had shut down, just like a machine would. Only this machine was much more complicated and could feel pain.

His mind was able to acknowledge that there was someone behind him, someone holding onto the back of his shirt. It almost felt as if that person was tugging on him, trying to pull the broken piece of machinery back. Their hands were small and they didn't seem to have any muscle power in them. They hadn't even been able to move him.

So the once man had stayed like the broken piece of machinery...until the door slammed on his nose.


	19. Chapter 19

" _ **Censor censor.**_ " Gajeel cursed as he held onto his bleeding nose, moving back a bit from the door attack. His hand clutched his nose as he forced his eyes open then glanced around to find the culprit who slammed the door on him.

At first glance, he just saw Levy who seemed to be a bit surprised. However, when he looked down, he saw a new visitor. A blue, closed umbrella with a face.

"You shouldn't be looking a girl's room." The umbrella stated, the sound of her voice possibly revealing her gender as a girl. Gajeel couldn't tell for sure since there were some men with high voices but he at least got an idea.

"Juvia that was mean." Levy mumbled as she glanced down at the umbrella who was giving Gajeel a dull and unamused look.

Gajeel had known that he hadn't met all of the talking appliances yet, that was obvious, but he couldn't help but wonder where the umbrella had been hiding. At first, he thought the closet but remembered that they were alive. Since she was alive, he doubted she wanted to stay in the closet forever. Yet he hadn't seen her around at all. Maybe she hung around outside.

That brought a new question into Gajeel's head. Would she like rain? Are umbrellas fond of it or do they dislike it as much as most humans? They were used as shields for the rain so they never really got a choice because humans made the choice for them. Maybe they did like it though, maybe they were fond of it because they didn't have hair that could get wet or clothes that would soak. Maybe it was a refreshing stream of water for them. Possibly like a bath.

"He should've have been looking in Levy-chan's room." Juvia exclaimed while shaking her umbrella head.

"I agree." Lucy stated with a nod while giving Gajeel her glare again except only worse that time. The glare had no actual effect on Gajeel though, just like last time. It was a mere glare from a tiny feather duster that could do him no harm. The umbrella on the other hand, it seemed like it could actually hurt Gajeel. However, the pride he held in his head kept telling him that the stupid umbrella just caught him off guard. He could snap the umbrella in two if he really wanted to. He was still strong and didn't lose a fight to an umbrella.

"Yes but you don't attack him." Levy scolded Juvia.

Juvia pouted slightly, "Juvia was just protecting Levy-chan!" she argued.

"I know you were, Juvia." Levy nodded and pat Juvia's head lightly despite the fact that it was just the top of the umbrella. The pat allowed the umbrella to let her pout fade away but she still didn't seem to be very enthusiastic about the whole situation. She just looked like an annoying child that was upset for looking like a child.

"Sorry." Juvia sighed and shook her umbrella head, accepting her defeat.

Levy gave her a light smile as she lifted her hand off of the umbrella head. Juvia glanced up lightly and a small smile grew on her lips when she saw Levy's. Just as a child would again, she calmed down when Levy assured her that she wasn't in trouble.

"I'm going to go now..." Gajeel mumbled and started to walk away. He barely moved an inch before the umbrella ran in front of him, blocking off his path.

"No you can't go." She insisted, her dark blue eyes staring up at him.

Gajeel glanced down at her with a raised eyebrow, "What are you doing?" he questioned as an unamused expression stretched across his face.

"You can't." Juvia stated again but gave no explanation.

He sighed."Let me pass." he ordered.

"You can't. You and Levy have to go read some books together." Juvia exclaimed with a light nod, "Just like the book said."

"Excuse me?" Gajeel questioned with a raised eyebrow as he glanced down at Juvia. He watched as her eyes went behind him and he followed her gaze out of curiousity. Her eyes ended up landing on Lucy, who had both wide and shocked eyes herself.

"Juvia, you don't need to tell them!" Lucy exclaimed while shaking the arms she had as a feather duster.

Juvia frowned a little, "But Juvia thought it they would want to know..."

"No no it was just a story." Lucy told her.

"What was just a story?" Levy questioned as a slight frown started to form on her face, "What are you two talking about?"

"The book Lucy-sama showed me." Juvia explained to Levy, completely ignoring what Lucy had said before. Whether she forgot or didn't care, Gajeel wasn't quite certain. However he, himself, was starting to get a bit interested in the story they were talking about.

"What book?" Levy asked while Lucy sighed, giving up on Juvia.

"Beauty and the Beast. It's about a girl that falls in love with a handsome beast! Their story is similar to our lives! Except the people were turned into furniture, not created as talking furniture." She went on, "Also the curse was a little different and you're not an ugly beast." she said to Levy.

"I read that one." Levy mumbled with a frown as certain parts started to click into her head a little about what Juvia was implying. A light blush coated her cheeks while her eyes widened.

Gajeel had no idea what was going on but he had a feeling that it wasn't good. Not in his favour either.

"A-All three of you, go away!" Levy stuttered as her eyes closed and she pointed in the direction of the hallway in front of them.

A pause fell over the group before a pout formed on Juvia's umbrella face again and she started to hop away. It took a few seconds before Lucy joined in, but she didn't seem guilty. Just a little miffed that Juvia told. It took Gajeel the longest to leave, mainly because he wasn't too thrilled about listening to the little brat but he decided to just do what she said anyways.

Gajeel sighed as he followed behind the two talking and walking appliances. They were both silent like Gajeel, but his mind was running over the place. His curiousity was scratching at the side of his skull, trying to break through. "What is the book about?" He asked, his curiousity broke through his thick head to speak even though he enjoyed the silence more.

"Nothing." Lucy replied quickly much to Gajeel's despair.

"Tell me." He ordered her, making sure his tone was threatening. He had lots of practice making sure he sounded like a threat. Sometimes, even when he didn't try he sounded like a very angry person. Which was fine for him.

"No." Lucy stated before she started to speed up her pace a little bit. Compare to Gajeel, her sped up pace was just his typical walking pace considering how small she was.

He frowned a little at her persistency, watching as Juvia quickly caught up to Lucy and their eyes started to dart around. Looking around for any escape they could find.

With a light frown, Gajeel started to walk faster. He passed them in a few steps and continued to walk pass them, not bothering to glance back at the two who were most likely still trying to find a way out. He didn't quite care whether they would or not. Since it was clear that they wouldn't answer his question, Gajeel just decided to look for it himself. So, he headed for the library.


	20. Chapter 20

They hadn't talked to each other. Not that it was new for them not to talk, the silence had just gotten awkward instead. After reading, well more like skimming, the story that Juvia talked about, Gajeel wasn't quite thrilled. He had decided to keep his distance so no more rumours around the stupid castle would be created.

However, despite what he wanted, the appliances still made him eat dinner in the same room as Levy.

They didn't even stay and eat with them, they just left. Natsu and Lucy wanted to stay but Wendy and the other larger tea cup made them leave just like the others. Gajeel didn't exactly enjoy their company but it would've been a whole lot less awkward if they had stayed. Well maybe it would've been a whole lot more weird if Natsu or that umbrella, stayed. Perhaps if Wendy stayed, it could have been a little better. He didn't actually mind Wendy, she was like a little kid. She was adorable, innocent, and actually nice to Gajeel. Unlike most of the other appliances.

He sighed lightly as he stared at the red soup that was laid out in front of him. He wasn't exactly sure how he was supposed to eat it. There were two spoons next to the bowl, neither of them looking familiar to him. One had a bigger spoony part, the thing used to scoop up food, while the other one was much smaller. Yet, he didn't dare look up at Levy to see which spoon she had used. He didn't care that much.

With the thought "screw it" rambling in his head, Gajeel picked up the bigger spoon. He gave it a quick look before just giving up and dipping it into the red soup that had long since lost its steam. The soup started to twirl around in the bowl as Gajeel watched it, slowly stirring it with his spoon to try and see what its contents were. But, no chunky parts floated to the top. He didn't feel any solids touch the spoon. It was as if it was just a liquid soup.

The concept of it was foreign to him. He was in no way rich, but whenever he made a soup or stew there was always something in it. Some type of meat or vegetable to give him more energy to get through the day. That and because it just tasted better with it. His eyes narrowed in suspicion as they stared down at the soup, his spoon continued to stir it in hopes of something popping up. If there was no chunks of meat or anything solid in it, then could he even call it a soup? Would it not just be a drink or something of the sort? Maybe some tea because it was hot?

He wouldn't be surprised if it was even made from tea leaves.

"What are you doing?" Levy grumbled, speaking for the first time they had been stuck in that room together.

"Searching." Gajeel replied as he kept his voice low and his eyes down. He wasn't embarrassed. Gajeel didn't get 'embarrassed'. It was just awkward and weird after reading the story. Yet not embarrassing.

"For..." She pressed on. Her eyes weren't on him, instead they were just focused on his spoon and his stirring. His odd stirring.

"Food." Gajeel answered her, his voice staying the same as it was. However, since he realized that the stirring was the reason that the two ended up talking despite what he wanted. Gajeel put his spoon down. A small clink was heard as he laid the side of his spoon against the ceramic bowl.

His hand reached over to grab his cup, keeping his eyes glued to wherever his hand went so he didn't see her. As his large hand wrapped around the cold, ceramic cup he heard a sigh come from the other side of the table.

Grumbling lightly, Gajeel couldn't help but bring his eyes up to see the annoyed girl on the other side. However, she wasn't looking at him either. She just appeared to be pissed at her own soup instead, since that's where her eyes ended up.

His eyes rolled on their own. They didn't even bother to get the command from the brain, they knew what to do.

After taking a long and heavy breath, Gajeel lifted up the spoon again. His eyes stared down at the soup, never giving up the suspicion they held for it, but his stomach was starting to take over. It was hungry and wanted food, even if it was weird.

Slowly, his hand dipped the spoon into the soup. He watched as it lifted, revealing the red liquid on the spoon. The simple, red liquid. A drink. No, a sauce would be a better word for it.

Though reluctant, he brought the spoon closer to his mouth. The smell wasn't bad so that was able to calm his nerves about the whole soup but feeling Levy's eyes staring into him didn't help at all.

After letting out another grumble, Gajeel decided to rip the band aid off quickly and plopped the soup into his mouth. Since it was quick, it took a few moments before the flavours could actually settle into his mouth.

Tomatoes.

Tomatoes were the first thing that came up. Then there was a hint of garlic that made its appearance, but that was all that ended up revealing themselves. Honestly, he couldn't deny its taste. It wasn't bad, possibly even good, but it didn't stop what he was thinking before. It was tomato sauce.

"How are you feeling?" Levy asked him, keeping her voice quiet but normal at the same time. Trying not to show and shyness nor anything too bold. Nothing mean, just making conversation. Gajeel, however, had a feeling that she just wanted to know when he would leave. Not that he could blame her, he wanted out too.

"Fine." Gajeel mumbled as he placed his spoon back in the soup and scooped up a bit more of the tomato sauce. "I should be able to get out of here by tomorrow." he exclaimed before putting the spoonful of the soup in his mouth.

"Okay." Levy nodded. A smile tugged at the corners of her lips but she wiped it away before Gajeel could see it though. He did, yet he didn't care. He felt the same way she did with no shame.

"Gotta deal with that stupid thing though..." The light grumble slipped through Gajeel's lips before he could stop himself. It took a few moments before his own words were able to sink into his head but when he realized it, too much regret ran through his veins.

"What?" Levy arched an eyebrow over in his direction when she heard the words despite what Gajeel wanted. Yet he could blame no one but himself since the words were uttered from his lips.

"Nothing." Gajeel said quickly, faster than he meant to.

"What did you say?" She pursued. A frown tugged at her lips as she placed her eyes on him for the first time that dinner.

"Nothing." He insisted again as he met her eyes as well. He kept his eyes both firm and stern as he stared at her, trying to get her to stop. It didn't work out as well as he'd hope.

"Was it about me?" She questioned curiously, the frown still stretched on her lips.

"No and it doesn't matter." Gajeel groaned at her. He shook his head and tore his eyes from her, bringing them back down to the soup. As an attemption at stopping the conversation, Gajeel scooped up some more soup and brought it to him.

Though he made it quite obvious that he was putting food in his mouth, she kept pestering him. It was like an annoying parrot that kept saying the same thing over and over again and wouldn't stop. Gajeel missed when she would avoid him and just grumble.

"Shut up." He grunted after eating a few more spoonfuls of soup and understanding that she could not take a hint. Well...either she couldn't or she wouldn't. Honestly, Gajeel was starting to believe that she just wouldn't take a hint. She didn't care.

"I want to know though." She stated, her bottom lip puffing out as she crossed her arms. "I've let you live in my house, I think I have a right to know." she argued.

"That has nothing to do with it though!" Gajeel argued back.

"It does too." Levy insisted, sending him a glare before huffing. "Fine. Whatever. I don't give a crap anyways. It was probably something petty and pathetic." she decided and reached for her soup again.

"Good." He grumbled again and glared down at the soup in front of him, as if blaming the soup. Yet he was relieved that the conversation finally ended.

However, a little tea cup walked in and completely ruined it for him.

"Levy-chan...Gajeel-san is losing his house, can he stay here?"


	21. Chapter 21

Though he wanted to figure out how the tea cup knew, no one would tell. He suspected they snuck into his house at one time and found letters. He was pretty ticked at that thought but decided not to push it since the conversation afterwards was odd. Despite what both he and Levy wanted, the tea cup was somehow able to convince Levy to let him stay but the weirdest part was that she convinced Gajeel too. She just wouldn't accept no as an answer from him.

It was irritating, to say the least.

After being forced to agree to stay at Levy's house until he found someplace else, they got all his stuff from the house. Even his equipment. They wanted to leave it outside but Gajeel got them to shove it into an empty guest house. He wouldn't let all of his work rust from rain. He almost wanted to smack them for suggesting they leave it outside. Fortunately, he was scary enough to convince them to give him his own 'study'.

He also got a much larger room than the guest room he was sleeping in before, since he would live there. The appliances still made him dinner and he still had to eat with Levy. It irked him at first, but he got used to it. She actually wasn't as bad as he believed. Still annoying, but she was funny. She could be nice at times as well but she was really smart.

Sometimes when she was bored, she would come into his 'study' and watch him. The first time it weirded him out but he quickly got used to it, considering how often it was. Most of the times she would watch then do what he told her to and sometimes she would try out her own thing. Not too many of them turned out right considering she was just learning (learning quite quickly too) but her face always lit up when she got it. It was kind of cute to see. Not that he would admit it.

Gajeel rarely left the mansion. At the beginning, he would almost always be gone but after the first week or so it was once a week he would leave. The only reason it would be once a week was so he could sell inventions or buy materials. He'd rather not leave at all. Though the talking appliances were a pain in the butt, they were better than the town's people. Especially Ikagura. She'd always try to talk to him the day he showed up, she'd be waiting at the spot. She'd ask the same question then throw a hissy fit when Gajeel would ignore her. It was almost a routine.

A routine she hated. Gajeel hated it too but only because he even had a routine with her. It was unnerving to say the least.

Yet, he'd rather deal with her once every seven days than every day. Though he despised it at first...Gajeel couldn't deny that he enjoyed living in the mansion. He couldn't even complain about the company...much.

"Hey." The familiar voice exclaimed as the door squeaked open to reveal the woman on the other side. A small smile was stretched on her lips as she watched the black haired man work at his desk, bending metal and making blue prints. They didn't make him much money since no one wanted to buy from him, but he loved it. When he worked, it was his world. He always belonged there. It felt...odd. A good odd nonetheless.

"Hey." Gajeel grunted as his greeting, not meaning it in a rude way but he was busy. His mind was elsewhere. After living together for a month, Levy had gotten to learn that.

The girl didn't respond, didn't make any effort to conversation as she walked into the room. Gajeel didn't argue the intrusion. As stated before, he was used to it. Though he would deny that he welcomed it, even if he'd sometimes smile when she came in.

She stood next to him, her hands interwined with each other behind her back as she peered over his shoulder to peek at what he was doing. Her eyes grazed over his work, not saying anything about it, keeping all her comments to herself. She had complaints before about his work and after getting snapped at a few times she learned not to do it again. She would only say things if he asked her...Or if he asked to no one in particular out of frustration but if it worked then Gajeel wouldn't be mad at her.

He was rarely mad at her for long though, especially over a trivial thing. That didn't mean he would apologize to her, even if he felt sorry.

Somehow, Levy got through that. She was grumpy at the beginning like she was for most things, but she got over it. She learned that was just who Gajeel was.

Horrible, but she accepted it.

A frown started to slip onto her lips as she stared down at his work, examining each detail of the blueprint he was creating. Though his eyes were fixated on to his blueprint, he could feel her frown forming. Yet he didn't say anything.

He just kept working, his eyes never leaving the desk.

It didn't take long for him to finish the blueprint, he had the idea in his head for a long time. He just needed to be able to put it in paper. Not the best drawing, but he didn't need to make it look pretty to understand it. And no one else needed to understand it since Gajeel kept his blueprints to himself. Well he let Levy look at them too but she rarely made anything from them. She enjoyed making her own blueprints.

Gajeel wouldn't admit it out loud, but it was evident that she was better than him when he first started.

"Oh." Levy mumbled while her eyes widened as if she had just recalled something. "It's about time for lunch, I came in to tell you that." she exclaimed, though her eyes were wide they didn't leave the blueprint, "But I got distracted."

Gajeel glanced back at her, staring at her for a moment. His eyes held no emotion nor did he feel any yet it was difficult for him to take his eyes off her. No thoughts ran through his head as his eyes watched her. It felt as if he was in a daze, a daze far away but he was completely aware of his surroundings. Completely aware of what was going on but he couldn't find any explanation to the trance he had fallen under, his mind didn't even try to figure it out. He was just trapped there.

"You okay?" Levy asked him, a worried frown finding place amongst her pink lips.

Her voice entangled itself around Gajeel's dazed mind and yanked him back into the real world around him.

"Yeah..." Gajeel mumbled, his mind still a bit loopy for reasons unknown to him. "I'm fine." He assured as his mind slowly started to come back to him while letting him find his voice, "Let's just go."

A hesitant expression formed on Levy's face but she didn't say anything. She just nodded and headed out with Gajeel in tow.

 **Just a warning, probably going to put a few chapters together so the chapter numbers will go down.**


	22. Chapter 22

Lunch was warm and cozy, something that was desperately needed for the day. Winter had come fairly quickly and covered the castle with white powder known as snow. White, chilling powder. Gajeel had hated the winter, it would always mean that he would need to chop wood that would just be burnt to ash. It wouldn't make him any money but it would cost him a whole lot. In the castle...it was different. The castle was warmed by the appliances (they brought in and chopped would beforehand) and Gajeel didn't need to do any work. There was no stress about the next day, if he could keep his house warmed. It was done for him.

It was...relaxing.

A soft sigh fell from his lips as he watched the snow fall from inside his room. A warm cup of mint tea was held firmly in his hands, the warmth of the liquid fluttered though his body every once in a while, keeping him warm.

When the snow had first started falling that morning, it would melt when it touched the ground. But with the temperature falling every second the snow had started piling up until there was a big chunk of it. It wasn't powder yet, still a little moist. Gajeel could tell from the look of it. A grateful thought flashed through his head when he remembered the kids that would play in it. The kids that would also accidentally throw a snowball at him when he was out and about.

It was nice not to have to worry about it.

As he relaxed in his chair next to the window sill, a sigh slipped from Gajeel's lips. A peaceful sigh at the soothing sensation he felt. A type of sensation he hadn't felt in a long time. Though he knew he still had work, he still had to finish that blue print he was working on, he was able to push it away. Not forever of course, work was still to be done. But at that moment he just needed a break. a little time to himself.

Was it odd that he was able to find more alone time in a house full of talking appliances than he did in his own home. He was always working, his mind was always running. Ways to make money to pay for food the next, what else to build, what to do. There was no leisure time for himself.

Yet after the passing of five minutes, Gajeel quickly learned to hate the leisure time he was granted. It was boring. His fingers started twitching, scratching onto the mug of tea or onto the wooden arm of his chair. His mind raced back and forth, thinking of how he could fix the blueprint, make it better...one that Levy wouldn't frown about. The so called break he forced himself to have only lasted those five minutes before he was up and moving again.

It barely took a few seconds before he made it to the door, his hand wrapping around the doorknob and about to pull. About to leave the boring room to go work on the blueprint again, when he heard an odd sound. As if something soft smacked into the glass from behind him.

His eyebrow arched as he turned his head back curiously, his gaze falling out of the window he had been looking out of earlier. There was nothing on it, only a few specks of the white snow clung to it.

A sigh fell from his lips as he turned his head back to the door in front of him and went to move the knob again but he heard the same noise again. That time, he kept his eyes on the door, not bothering to look back as he turned the knob until he heard a click.

But then he heard the noise again.

In annoyance, he snapped his head back to see the window. That time there was a glob of snow stuck to it, not just the small specks of snow. Grumbling, Gajeel stormed over to the window and peered down to see who was attacking his window. There stood a girl in the snow, a blue haired girl with a fur cloak and a bright smile.

Gajeel sent her a warning glare to get her to stop but she didn't react to it. Well not in the way he would've wanted. Instead of being scared and stop as he would've liked, Levy just kept her smile before bending down. Her gloved hands wrapped around the snow before picking it up and packing it together. Gajeel worsened his glare as she did, threatening her not to do it again.

Why he was so opposed to her throwing another snowball at the window of a room he was about to leave was unknown to him. However, that didn't stop him from slowly getting pissed as the next snowball came flying up and smacking into the window.

Harmful curses left his mouth that time as he stormed out of the room. The thought of working on the blueprint was gone entirely as he angrily made his way to the door. He put on some boots and a warm looking cloak, not bothering with gloves, before going outside.

The freezing wind was first to hit him in the face, shocking him for a second before he regained his senses. However he was only able to keep his senses for a few seconds before something else hit him in the face. Something that was soft yet hard at the same time. It was white and mushy, still moist, as it smashed into his face and was soon followed by a pile of giggles.

"Was that necessary?" Gajeel grumbled as he raised his bare hand and brushed the snow off his face.

Only giggles replied.

He let out a grunt and wiped the water from melted snow at touching his body heat onto his cloak then glared over at Levy. Though there was irritation forming in his gut at what was happening, it lightened a little at the cute sounds of her giggles.

Without actually thinking, Gajeel bent over and reached down into the pile of mushy snow. A surge of cold ran through his veins quickly before it cooled down and his hand got used to it. There was no actual brain process that told him to do it, nothing that made sense in his head for him. There was no reason. No reason except for revenge.

With a smirk growing in his fearful face, he let the snowball fly at the blue haired woman that never stopped giggling. He watched for a moment, the smirk on his face until he watched the snowball fly pass her. Then the smirk started to fall as her giggling only got stronger. As the snowball smashed into the tree behind her, Levy reached down and made another snowball.

Gajeel didn't just stay still that time. He moved over to the side and ducked behind a large statue of a person. He heard her footsteps come towards him and he dug his hand into the snow, ignoring its temparature and started to form a better snowball. One that would he would be able to throw better since that was the problem. It wasn't him obviously.

After making sure the snowball was better than last time, more capable of following directions, he waited. The snowball stayed firm in his hands as he waited for the footsteps to come closer and he could get her close range. A bit harsh but revenge wasn't always the neatest.

A few seconds passed and Gajeel decided it to be time. He swung over to reveal his entire body out from statue so he could hurl the snowball. didn't go as planned as he had wanted them to. Before he could release the snowball into her direction, he himself was greeted by one. One that got him in the face.

"Oh you are so going down!"


	23. Chapter 23

His hands were freezing but he couldn't feel it, at least not from his hands. His fingers had gone numb and he lost sense in them. If his hands were pressed against any part of his body he could tell how freaking cold they were but the numbness stopped him otherwise. He was almost grateful for it, had that not meant he was at risk of frost bite.

"Hold still." Levy mumbled as she dipped the cloth into the hot water and brought it out. It dripped for a few minutes until she squeezed the excess water out. Gently, she laid the warm clothes on Gajeel's fingers and he felt a tingling. On instinct to the tingling, he wiggled his fingers around as if that would make it stop. It only made it worse.

"Ugh." Gajeel mumbled at the tingling as the cloth lost its heat and Levy took it off.

"You shouldn't have been out there without gloves on." she lectured while placing the cloth back into the warm water. She let it sit for a few minutes before pulling it back out of the water and squeezing the excess out again. "You're lucky it's not worse."

"I'm fine." He argued but when the cloth was laid on his fingers again he winced which didn't help his case. Levy didn't reply to his denial verbally but she shook her head so Gajeel could see. He wanted to keep fighting it but he knew it was futile. Though honestly, that normally wouldn't stop him. He wasn't one to quit so easily. For some reason he did with her. It was...strange.

"You really do need to take better care of yourself." Levy mumbled as she lifted the cloth when the heat went away. A frown stretched out on her face as she placed a few of her own fingers on top of his. At her touch, the tingling in his hands became stronger but different at the same time. Almost like electricity had decided to run rabid through his skin.

He liked it but he didn't at the same time.

It was inexplicable for his poor, stubborn mind.

"Did you feel that?" Gajeel mumbled with a frown before he could stop himself. He watched as Levy glanced up at him while she redipped the cloth into the water. Her eyebrow arched slightly at his question as she squeezed the water out.

"Feel what?" She questioned.

"That...electricity." he exclaimed and winced as the cloth was laid out on his hand again but it didn't feel as weird. The numbing was fading away, making it tingle still but the cloth wasn't doing it as much. His hands were warming up and he supposed that was a good thing. Even if it meant he would soon feel his cold fingers.

"What electricity?" Levy asked with a frown as she glanced at him curiously but worried as well. She pressed the cloth on Gajeel's fingers a bit harder, adding pressure. The tingling got worse but Gajeel was able to feel it more, feel the warmth of the cloth.

"When you touched me..." he mumbled obliviously as his eyes fell down to her hand that was releasing g the pressure. At his words, her hands stopped moving for a moment and stayed hovering above Gajeel's. His eyes moved up to her face out of curiousity and noticed a light red tint spreading across her cheek. "Are you okay?" Gajeel asked while tilting his head at the red on her cheeks.

At his words, the red only grew stronger. "I'm fine!" she exclaimed quickly but turned her head away from Gajeel so he couldn't see her cheeks anymore.

"Are you sure?" he questioned her as he grew his own frown. She only nodded, not giving him a verbal reply. She kept her head turned away and her gaze elsewhere as she lifted the cloth off his fingers and sighed. Her hand didn't touch his again and she put the cloth down.

"You're fine." she mumbled whilst pushing herself off of the chair she ended up in. Her gaze continued to be away from him but she allowed her face to be in his direction, believing that she forced the red away. She was wrong.

"O-Okay..." Gajeel said with an awkward tone as Levy glanced over to the door. She leaned down and collected the damp cloth and folded it up.

"Just relax your hands for a bit." she ordered as she headed to the door with the cloth in her hands but the bowl of warm water still behind her. She wrapped her hand around the door and opened it, trying to keep her face away from Gajeel again but he could see that the red had even started spreading to her neck. As soon as the door was opened, Levy hurried out then closed the door behind her, completely forgetting about the water bowl.

"O-Okay." Gajeel repeated as she left, his gaze trapped on the door for a few moments before he turned it back to his fingers. With an expasperated sigh, he moved his fingers around a bit more , the tingling still there but none were the same as the one he got from Levy.

* * *

A moron. A moron, that's what he was. A moron that just didn't know when to stop talking and when being blunt wasn't exactly the solution.

Cusses slipped from Levy's lips as she walked out of the room, the red tint spreading across her cheeks never faltering. With a few groans as thoughts whirled in her head, she placed her hands on her cheeks and wiggled them, as if it would do something. To no one's surprise, it didn't. The red rested on her cheeks like a bed as the thoughts, the suggestive thoughts that she hated, never seized.

"Levy-chan?" A voice piped up from down below. Her eyes snapped downwards to the tea cup at the sudden noise, her heart still pounding but slowly calmed as it spotted her friend.

"Hi Wendy." Levy greeted, trying to keep her tone casual but it was clear that it could break at any second. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I came to check up on Gajeel." The little tea cup frowned as her blue orbs stayed glued to Levy, mainly at her face. "Are you okay? You're very red. Do you have a fever?" Wendy questioned while tilting her tea cup head.

"No no I'm fine." Levy assured her again but the red forever on her cheeks didn't help convince Wendy.

With the frown, Wendy hopped closer to Levy and stared up at her. Moments passed before the silent signal got into Levy's head and she crouched down. She held her hand flat on the ground and Wendy hopped onto it. When she was certain that the girl was balanced on her hand, Levy lifted the tea cup up and brought her closer to her face. Wendy stared at Levy's cheeks first before glancing at her eyes then bringing her gaze to the forehead. She jumped a few times on her hand and jerked her head over to the forehead until Levy complied, bringing her to the forehead.

The tea cup pressed her own head against Levy's, her frown resting as she stayed there for a few moments. When she finished, she jumped back into the palm of Levy's hand and nodded. "Well you don't have a fever but your face is still very red." Wendy confirmed with another nod as she looked at Levy still.

"Are you warm?" She asked.

"No..." Levy sighed as a quick like formed in her head. "I was just outside so my face is still pretty cold."

"Your forehead was a little chilly." The tea cup agreed with her, believing the lie. "Okay then! Sorry!" she exclaimed as a cheerful smile took place upon her face instead.

"It's fine." Levy assured and kneeled down, letting the tea cup jump off her hand. Wendy started to hop away after giving Levy a quick wave. The blue haired girl watched the tea cup leave but the words kept echoing in her head in sync with her beating heart...


	24. Chapter 24

It was crowded, but it was always crowded. There was always glee but also despair lurking about. People would be singing and dancing while they worked or scrounging around for food, begging for scraps. There was no in between. There was no varieties of people within the town, they were each clones of each other with no different opinions. So if just one person didn't like another, everyone disliked them. That had been hard for Gajeel.

He sighed lightly as walked down the streets of his old town, not unfamiliar to the stares he received. They held three things within them. Fear and confusion but it was mostly judgement.

"So you're back." The familiar and irritating voice of the pink haired woman spoke. She walked behind Gajeel as he rolled in a cart of products he had created the week before. He didn't bother to glance back, he didn't care to. He knew the charade had started the moment he walked into the town. The charade wasn't fun but he enjoyed his role better than another. Ignoring her was all he had to do. Much better than talking to her.

"Where do you go?" The question irked him. She would ask it every time he went back to the town. He never answered but she kept persuing, kept asking and only annoying him further.

At his silence, her huff came right on time. She was spot on when it came to following the weekly routine. Yet, Gajeel had a feeling she didn't do it on purpose.

Despite the fact that it was clear he didn't want to talk to her, not even have her presence twenty meters in few, she kept following. She kept by his side and tried at every attempt to start a conversation or do something that would make him notice her. She fell once and grumbled when Gajeel didn't help her up. There were a few times where she dropped something and expected Gajeel to pick it up even though he's never done it before. And he never would.

She followed him to the local market he would visit and watch as he set up his little stand. It wasn't very hard, just a table and a sign so people knew what it was. Ikagura would make suggestive noises while she watched him, loud enough for Gajeel to hear. It only made him more pissed off.

When he set up the inventions on the stand, she would continue standing there. Sometimes she asked what the objects were or what they did while other times she would act like a damsel in distress. She never offered to help, not like he would've let her anyways.

When the stand was up, people walked by. Some eyed what he had curiously before spotting Gajeel and quickly making their way away from him. There were a few people brave enough to ask questions but they were mainly children who hadn't yet feared an odd looking person. Of course they didn't have any money to buy anything anyways.

Every once in a while, if a cute boy looked their way then Ikagura would try to get their attention to explain what some stuff did. Unfortunately for Gajeel, she almost always got their attention. She would explain an invention while Gajeel mumbled how wrong she was but neither of them listened to him. It's not like it mattered anyways, no matter how flirty Ikagura was, she never sold anything. Gajeel scared them.

Yet luckily, there were always a few that did buy something from him. Whether pity or not, he didn't know but he didn't care either. Whatever got him money.

His pride didn't falter when people passed by his stuff because he knew he was better than them. It was the town's fault, they just couldn't accept someone different being there so they ignored him. Acted as if he wasn't there then taunted him behind his back. At least a few people were decent enough to do it to his face.

Hours passed of Gajeel sitting there until the sun started to fall. Ikagura was gone, having given up hours ago. The other merchants started to clean up their booths, getting rid of what they were selling so no one would still it. Gajeel waited a little longer before he let out a sigh and cleared up his stuff as well.

He got it sorted out and placed it the items in the wheelbarrow he brought from the castle. A few things he had to squeeze in and others he just forced into his pocket before lifting the wheelbarrow and started to roll out of the town.

The moment he took a step out of town line, a moment of relief flooded through his veins. He always imagined leaving that damned town. He wanted to visit Paris, to visit other towns that might appreciate his work...yet he felt tied there. Every attempt he made to get out of the town was foiled by some sort of weather mishap. As if the world wanted him to stay. Eventually he gave up. He accepted his fate living in that town.

Yet when he moved in with Levy...weather didn't stop him. There was no odd coincidence that stopped him. It was strange but he figured that the castle was close enough to the wretched town.

The sun had disappeared completely when he returned to the eery castle. The clobbing of his shoes were heard when he took his steps in the powdery snow laid out in front of the castle, covering the walks. Despite the lighter colour, it only added to the chill of the castle. Though scary to others, Gajeel eventually found the view of the castle to be comforting and warming.

Unlike many may have.

With a sigh, he used a free hand to open up the large doors and pushed his wheelbarrow in. The candle was already there, waiting for him. When Gajeel first started, Erza, the tea cup, assigned him the task of bringing the wheelbarrow back since Gajeel just muddied up the castle. Natsu clearly did as well but he supposed the tea cup enjoyed yelling at Natsu more. Not like he would argue anyways.

Natsu's grumbling soon joined the routine Gajeel had for that day.

As the wheelbarrow was wheeled away, Gajeel started taking off his winter clothes. His coat came off first and he hung it up on the coat hanger, who's name is Jet, every time and each time the coat hanger would throw it off. For some reason, Gajeel got amusement from it.

A reason that he didn't really need to justify.

With a comfortable smile taking place on his face, he took a step further into the house. The scent relaxed his tense body as he felt at home again.

While her let out a sigh, he walked more into the house, feeling better again.

* * *

He was such a jerk. He would blatantly ignore her when she worked hard to get his attention. He was rude and hated everyone. Yet that only made her want him more. She wanted to be the only one to get his attention. She wanted to win it.

And it was hard to do when he only showed up once a week.

When she repeated her question again on where he would go, only to be ignored, she decided to find out herself. She would follow him.

"Ugh." she groaned as she pushed herself threw the dead, wet bushes covered by little bits of snow. It was not her preferred path of the forest but she needed to keep her distance otherwise would see her. If he spotted her, the whole mission would go awry. Despite what he clearly liked to believe, Ikagura knew him. She knew him better than he thought. If he caught her, then he wouldn't keep going to whereever he went.

So she had to keep it a secret, even if it messed up her clothes. Fortunately, it wasn't her favourite dress.

Branches scratched and tore at her dress as she pushed her way out of the bush, being hidden by some long grass instead. She stayed on her knees as she moved along, keeping her head low so the grass could cover her still. Though she kept distance, she made sure she was still close enough to hear his footsteps. Unlike the other's in the village, his were very distinct. Hard and strong footsteps, confident perhaps. Even they helped his sexiness. Just another reason Ikagura wanted him above all the other bachelors.

But even if she couldn't hear his footsteps, the metal creaking as they hit each other in the wheel barrow also gave it away.

The trip was a little shorter than Ikagura expected, though she was thankful for it. She didn't want to walk too far within the gross bushes and snow. She would've, but she didn't want to.

Finally, he came into a clearing and Ikagura peeked her head up.

Then she saw it.


	25. Chapter 25

"So you're back." Levy mumbled as Gajeel walked into the dining room where dinner was being served. He wasn't quite sure what was on the table, but he knew it had a funny name. The tea pot had called it 'escargots', whatever that meant.

"I am." He nodded as he made his way to his usual seat, once known as the guest seat. It had been across from Levy's on the large table but after a while it got hard to talk so Levy ended up moving her seat over so she was at his side instead. Gajeel didn't mind, as long as he got the end seat. The end seat was a sign of power and respect, Gajeel liked power.

"How was it? Did you sell that new prototype?" Levy questioned, small sparkles shining on her eyes when she mentioned it. That was one of the projects Gajeel allowed her to help with. It was one of the ones that worked out very well. One that she was excited.

But none noticed it. The few that glanced at the shop, or even visited it, ignored the prototype. Gajeel believed they were stupid for doing so, he believed that it was one of the most useful things he had made. But that didn't stop others from not caring about it.

As the excitement continued to twinkle inside her pretty orbs of light, Gajeel couldn't find himself brave enough to tell her the truth if it meant the excitement would die. So he let a lie slip out of his mouth. "No..." he murmured which was actually honest at first but then the lie bolted from his lips, "But they don't want the prototype. They said they'll wait for the finished product."

Glitter of happiness and exictement burst around her as a big, beaming smile grew on her face. "Really?" She asked with wide eyes, leaning over to grab his arm. When her fingers touched him, he felt the electricity again. He had felt it a few times since that day but he stopped thinking much of it. She was strange, that was the best answer to it he would ever come up with.

"Yes." The lie slid from his lips again but it was believable. Believable enough to keep her happy.

"That's awesome!" she exclaimed and pulled herself back onto her chair again.

A light chuckle slipped by him, the laughter echoing for a moment before it fell into a smile instead. "Yeah...it is." Gajeel exclaimed with a nod, the smile still on his face but it wasn't nearly as bright as hers. He wasn't sure if that was a bad thing or not.

"We need to get started on it right away!" she stated, slamming her hands onto the table while her smile transformed into an expression of determination. Her eyes stared out in front of her before glancing over at Gajeel, her determination directed at him. "We need to get everything done." she said.

"... We're eating right now." Gajeel mumbled but Levy didn't acknowledge his words as she stood up, her chair slamming to the ground behind her. Her hand grabbed onto his forearm. Though her fingers couldn't wrap around his arm entirely, she didn't care. She pulled on him using the strength she had and to humour her, Gajeel got up and allowed her to drag him away.

* * *

No one seemed to believe her. They listened and pretended to believe her but when she offered to show them, they declined. They all thought she was nuts.

It was not a feeling that Ikagura enjoyed.

The boys only tolerated hearing her 'crazy' because she was hot and she knew that.

So instead of spouting nonsense like some mad man, like Gajeel's father used to do, she decided to be a little bit more mischevious. She decided to lure someone into the forest.

"Mmm are you sure we're not there yet?" The man mumbled as he tried to get closer, attempting to wrap an arm around her waist but Ikagura only sped up.

"Not yet." she replied but kept up a flirty tone to keep him interested, "We'll be at special spot really soon."

"Okay.." the man replied but kept following her anyways.

She gave him a smile, a suggestive smile that immediately got him more excited to get to her 'special spot'. Males were simple in her mind, they each had the same thoughts. They each were easy to control.

But not Gajeel. Gajeel was different. He wasn't swayed as easily. She wanted different. And him living in a castle for the past month was very different.

But she wanted someone else to see it. She wanted someone else to know because when she marrys Gajeel and becomes a princess, she wants people to know. Unlike Gajeel, she wouldn't want to be hidden. She'd want the entire world to know.

It didn't take long for them to walk into more familiar surroundings, surroundings that told them it was close. It wasn't anything too giant, anything too noticeable. Just certain ways trees were shaped or certain bushes that still had little pieces of her dress in it. When the man behind her saw that, she could almost sense the smirk coming off him. But she didn't care. She was more interested in her own smirk that was starting to form when she realized how close they were. How close she was.

"Are we almost there?" the man asked again and Ikagura ignored him for a few seconds as they neared it.

"Now we are." she answered as she brushed away some leaves to reveal the structure in front of them. The giant, black castle that was hidden within the forest.

The gazing gargoyles and haunted aura of the house was open for another pair of eyes to see, but there was more that time. More than just what Ikagura had witnessed.

Standing in the snow was a woman, a petite woman but a woman none the less. She had short blue hair and purple cloak wrapped around her body to keep her warm. Beside her was Gajeel, holding a blueprint in his hands as the girl pointed things out. A few times he chuckled at her words, forcing a jealous knot to form in Ikagura's stomach since she had never been able to make Gajeel laugh. Even though it had nothing to do with romance, the knot stayed.

"Who is th-" the man behind her started but Ikagura covered his mouth, not wishing to be spotted.

There wasn't anything too unusual about the girl except her location. She walked and she talked like a normal person. Her smile was larger than most of the people Ikagura knew but that wasn't anything too big.

Yet there was one thing.

One thing that completely alarmed Ikagura.

As the strange girl searched for something unknown, she came upon a pile of snow. She did not bend down to brush it aside, she did not even kick it to get some of it off. Her hand merely flicked to the side and the snow followed. Without even needing to touch it, the snow flew off. Pushed by an invisible force.

There was no shock on her face, no surprise. She had no reaction to the impossible action she had done. She was used to it.

"She's a witch." the words slipped through Ikagura's lips as she watched the girl casually pick up a sheet of metal from the ground. Why it was there, Ikagura didn't exactly know but it wasn't her biggest concern. The fact that Gajeel was living with a witch was a concern for her. Not even a hot witch either. In Ikagura's eyes, the girl was the sterotypical witch with the ugly nose and warty face. Nothing that she could figure out Gajeel would find attractive.

"What are we going to do?" The man asked when his mouth was released but his voice was droned out by the jealous knot that only grew within Ikagura. When the witch brought over the metal sheet she ahd found, Gajeel smiled. He actually smiled. And then playfully, he pet her on the head like he would a dog. To some it would've seemed rude but to Ikagura it was clearly a flirt. At least in the way Gajeel did it.

"Ikagura?" he mumbled, whispering beside her, "We should leave. This isn't safe."

"...Right." Ikagura nodded but the anger and jealousy in her veins was ruling out the self security part of her. When she didn't physically respond, the man grabbed onto her wrist. She didn't react to it, she knew it wasn't to attack her but to protect her. But her eyes remained on the two, even as the man pulled her away for their own safety. When they were half way back to the village, Ikagura found her own pacing instead where she had pushed through all the bushes. Panic was running through the man's veins but Ikagura couldn't find it in herself to be scared. She only held a jealous rage at the thought of someone trying to take what belonged to her. Even if that someone was a witch.

"We need to do something." The man exclaimed with wide eyes as they forced themselves out if the forest, back to the village in front of him.

With rage in her eyes and a plan in her head, Ikagura nodded, "Yes...we do."


	26. Chapter 26

It was hard to comprehend her excitement, much less work with it while it was radiating off of her. He loved seeing her excited, he knew that even though he didn't really know why, but it was hard to work with her like that. He was getting tempted to kick her out of the room so he could work, but he knew Levy wouldn't quite like that. Considering how excited she was to be working on the project, she may burn Gajeel alive if he even suggested he worked alone.

"So..." he mumbled as he glanced over at the bouncing girl, "Do you have any ideas to improve it?"

The bouncing stopped and a look of horror spread across her face, "Why? Does it need improvement? Is it not good enough?"

"N-No!" Gajeel insisted quickly as panic entered his veins at her worry, "It's fine how it is but anything can be improved right? That's one of the cheesy things a lot of your books say, right?" he exclaimed, surprised at himself for trying to cheer her up again.

A soft giggle escaped from her lips as she looked up at Gajeel, "Yeah it is. So do you think it needs anything else?" she asked as well with a newfound smile, "To make it even better?"

Gajeel paused, not expecting to receive that question, before shaking his head. "No. I think it's fine." he declared while staring down at the items they had collected. His arm reached over to grab a tool so they could get started and get it over with, but Levy grabbed his arm.

"Wait!" she exclaimed as more electrity jolts ran up Gajeel's skin from the touch. "Before we start," she continued on as her hand fell, "How about I make us some hot coco?"

"Oh..um sure." Gajeel replied with a shrug, not particularly caring either way but at least he would get a little bit of peace. If only for a few minutes.

"Awesome." Levy gave off her bright grin again before darting to the house to make some hot coco despite the fact that she had servants. The girl would never be able to stop surprising Gajeel. Though it was true, that could be a curse, most of the time it was a blessing. A blessing he couldn't quite understand.

While a smile started growing on his face, his eyes glanced down at the materials below him but something seemed odd. Like there was something missing that they needed. Something important.

Just as the thought appeared, a gear clicked into his mind, a gear that wasn't exactly wanted. A frown slipped on his lips as he realized where he would have to go to get it. Had it been something miniscule, something he could ignore until the end, then he would've. But what they forgot was the start to the entire project. Sighing, Gajeel shook his head before running over to the castle. He pushed the door open and poked his head in and yelled that he would be back. Then, without waiting for a response, he bolted to the forest to get it over with.

/

She didn't mind cooking, as long as it didn't take too much time because she had tons of other stuff that she would have to do. Fortunately for her, hot coco wouldn't take up a whole lot of time so she could get back to working with Gajeel.

"Hey Levy-chan." A familiar but friendly voice spoke from behind the girl. With a smile in place, Levy glanced back to see the feather duster she had made friends with long ago.

"Hello Lu-chan. What are you doing here?" she questioned as she turned her attention back to the pot boiling over the fire.

"Just came to see you, it's been a while. You seem to be very busy..." the feather duster paused as a smirk overtook her face, "with Gajeel."

Red flushed across her cheeks as Levy forced her eyes to stay on the pot. "W-What do you mean?" she stuttered as panic started to linger in her flush as well.

"Well you're almost always with Gajeel, whether he wants you or not." Lucy replied, her smirk seeming as if it would never end, "And it seems that you're always thinking about him too~"

"I am not!" Levy shouted back, but even she knew there was too much defense in her voice for anyone to believe her words.

"But you are. It's so obvious." Lucy shook her head. "It seems that Levy-chan is in loooooove.~"

"I am not!" Levy argued almost immediately again, her blush still evident as her voice went higher with each word.

"Oh Levy-chan, Levy-chan..." Lucy shook her head again at the bluenette, "You don't need to lie to me. I can tell the truth. You're hopelessly in love. It's adorable." she exclaimed as her smirk turned into a smile, "Perhaps... you'll be free of the curse then." she suggested.

Levy's head fell, her blush slowly fading. "He...he won't love me back. And...it doesn't matter. He's going to have to leave Lucy or he's going to get hurt just like the last one." Levy excalimed quietly "Actually...maybe I should kick him out..."

Lucy's eyes widened as horror struck her face, "What? Levy-chan no! You can't do that! Besides the fact that you two clearly like each other, he has no where else to go!"

"He doesn't like me." Levy argued quickly, her cheeks puffing out, "He always treated me like a little kid and acts like he never wants to be near me. Not that I blame him..."

"Levy-chan no. Stop feeling insecure. Just because you can't see it doesn't mean that it isn't there." Lucy huffed at the ignorance of the blue haired fool, "He adores you but he does it in his own way."

Levy shook her head, refusing to believe her friend. "No he doesn't. You're delusional and like I said, it's better if he doesn't."

"Levy-chan..." Lucy sighed, "He likes you. He really does, wanna know how I know? Because every once in a while I tag along with his visit to town and he doesn't talk to anyone there. There's even this really pretty girl that always tries to flirt with him and you know what he does? He counts the seconds until he can return to you." A smile peeked onto Lucy's lips when she noticed that Levy was growing her own, "However, I don't believe he has done this before so his feelings might confuse him. You would have to confess to him first."

"M-Me?" The blush on her face worsened as it grew to her nose as well, "I-I couldn't do that! Th-That's nuts!"

"Then you're going to be cursed forever." Lucy shook her head, her eyes on the ground while her head kept shaking until it no longer made any sense. "And...if you don't then you'll never be able to kiss Gajeel."

If possible, the blush grew more on Levy's features. "W-Why would I want to do that?"

At that point, Lucy started to show annoyance in her, "Because you're hopelessly in love."

The blush kept darkening but this time, she didn't deny it.

"So go confess." Lucy ordered but kept her tone soft and sympathetic.

"Not right now..." Levy murmurred in reply, her eyes falling back to the hot cocoa, "I don't want to scare him off like that last one. I'll wait until the right moment..." she mumbled.

A frown grew onto Lucy's face, "You didn't scare the last one off...something just happened. Something inside him broke."

"Because of my curse."

"You don't know that!"

Levy sighed before stirring the cocoa a bit and taking it away from the fire, "Yes I do."

"No you don't." Lucy huffed but Levy didn't argue her anymore. It was a useless fight, the girl was almost about as stubborn as Natsu was...and she was too stubborn to admit it.

"Fine whatever..." The bluenette groaned as she turned her eyes back to the hot cocoa. Seeing that it was good enough, she pulled the pot from the fire and placed it to the side. Her arms reached over to the cupboard and grabbed two clay mugs that could handle the heat of the cocoa. While knowing that Lucy was still watching, Levy used a wooden ladle to gently pour some of the cocoa into both cups, careful not to make a mess. When they both had a decent amount, Levy put the ladle in the pot then glanced back at Lucy. "You can have some now," she exclaimed.

"Oh yay!" Lucy replied with a bright smile as she hopped over to the counter and climbed her way up there.

While leaving her to do her own thing, Levy started walking over to the closed door with the cups. Steam emitted off them as she used her elbow to open to open the door. The blush was still evident on her face from their previous discussion but she was unable to force it away. After deciding to blame it on the cold air, she took a step outside again where she had left Gajeel.

But, the area around her was empty. There was no one tending to the work bench.

"G-Gajeel?" she stuttered with wide eyes as she held the two cups in her hand. Their work was still there, but there was no one occupying it.

The previous conversation she had with Lucy, the memories that arose from it, almost instantly set off the panic alarm in her mind. As she forced herself to try and calm down, she placed the two cups on the table before looking around for him.

Her first instinct was to look around the house in case he decided to search for more material, but he wasn't anywhere to be found. Then, she and a few other of the appliances, her friends, started to check around the castle. Natsu had checked the washroom (even though Levy argued it) while Levy checked his room and some others checked the workshop, all the places he would've been. When he still wasn't found, they started checking all of the other rooms instead even the ones he shouldn't have been in. They checked the library, Levy's bedroom, the sleeping quarters for the appliances, there wasn't a place in the castle that they didn't check. Yet...he still wasn't there.

Her history was repeating itself.


	27. Chapter 27

He probably should've been surprised, but he really couldn't have forced himself to be. The town would go crazy at any little thing that seemed out of the ordinary so seeing a mob coming to the forest...well that was less out of the ordinary. What they were planning to burn down didn't really matter to him, however what did matter was that none of the shops would be open when he needed them.

While cursing at the thought of telling Levy they'd need to wait, he heard his name. He heard his name from the annoying voice that haunted him whenever he returned to the puny and despicable town.

On instinct, he turned his head away from it so he could ignore it better...but then he started hearing a few more people calling out his name from the riot. Some were familiar while a few others were not. Almost out of curiousity, Gajeel glanced over to the sound of his name to see that the entire mob was staring at him. Especially Ikagura, who was standing in the front of it.

"Gajeel!" she called out to him, only a torch in her hand while others had pitch forks and rope, ready to kill.

Despite what his mind was telling him, Gajeel ended up answering anyways. "Yes?" he asked with a groan.

"Are you okay?" she questioned, almost as if she had real concern for him.

"I'm fine, why the hell would you ask?" he sent her a glare but she didn't waiver at the sight.

"Well I know now," Ikagura exclaimed, her tone soft still despite the torch in her grim hands.

While furrowing his eyebrows, Gajeel's eyes narrowed down at her. "Know what?" he asked.

"About the witch you've been forced to live with," she replied calmly and glanced at the crowd who nodded in agreement.

Gajeel went to question which at first before a bluenette popped up in his head. Levy...

"She's not a witch," the pierced man defended and worsened his glare, daring anyone to say otherwise. Yet when there was a riot in front of him with every person wielding a weapon, he didn't seem so threatening.

A frown crawled onto Ikagura's lips, any concern she had melting away from sight. "What do you mean, she's not a witch?" she asked, not bothering to keep up a little act. Watching him defend that little brat only made her angrier.

"She's. Not. A. Witch." Gajeel stated more slowly while his glare stayed on Ikagura.

"Are you calling me a liar then? Me and..." she paused to glance around the mob, as if searching for someone but she gave up after a second, "another guy saw her use witchcraft! She's clearly a witch so we must burn her!"

She raised her torch and the riot cheered behind her.

"She's not a witch!" Gajeel yelled again and stepped closer. Though the people closest to him were intimidated, no one else was. They were ready to push him aside if they needed to. He was hopelessly outnumbered. The most he could do was take out a few of them before they finally took his down.

The frown only deepened as Ikagura's hand lowered the torch. Her mouth stayed silent for seconds but her eyes were on him, examining him for answers she already knew. "Oh...I see." she mumbled, her eyes never leaving his body, "The witch has you under her spell, doesn't she?"

"...What?"

"That witch has charmed you into thinking you love her!" Ikagura accused.

A large blush spread out across Gajeel's cheeks. "I-I don't love her," he replied shyly as his gaze turned away from them.

"We must free Gajeel from her witchcraft!" Ikagura announced to the crowd, holding her torch up again. The crowd cheered even though it never cared for Gajeel. They just wanted something to burn.

"Knock it off Ikagura." Gajeel groaned and glared at her, but his blush was still evident. A feature that Ikagura did not like.

"He might interfere because of the spell..." Ikagura murmurred as she glanced at Gajeel then back to the crowd, "Restrain him!"

Immediately, Gajeel's eyes widened and he took a step back as the angry crowd turned to him. Despite the fact that he was clearly worried, he tried to keep his glare up. To try and intimidate them, scare them away from him. It probably looked pathetic to them, to be honest.

They didn't come one by one, they came at large groups at a time...surrounding him. But they were yet to touch him.

Ikagura stood away from the group, along with some of the crowd that didn't want to interfere. Or they found no room to get in on the fight.

Slowly, the crowd started to move in but none of them took the step forward. They didn't want to be the first one to go.

Gajeel took that to his advantage and stepped forward, pleased to see that the crowd moved away from him. He started walking a bit, towards the forest as the crowd moved around him but still wouldn't touch him. For once, he was grateful for the villagers being just like they others.

"If you guys don't restrain him, he'll help the witch and she'll run wild! She'll kill your children and livestock!" Ikagura yelled from the side even though she did nothing.

Almost all the villagers were the same at least.

Gajeel glanced to the side, to send Ikagura one last glare before the crowd actually started to come at him. It was still a bit slow but they were closing the space in front of him so he couldn't move. Gajeel attempted to swing his arms around and smack a few but the ones closest to him were the stronger ones with better reflexes. Most likely the welders and the farmers.

When Gajeel didn't have any space left to move around, the people in the front started to grab at him. He kept swinging his arms around to take anyone out but it had become worthless as a few men grabbed each arm so he couldn't move them. Then, he went to kick a few and he got them out of surprise. Yet they caught on and captured his legs too. From the corner of his eye, he could see someone approaching from the outskirts of the mob. He didn't look like much, just a small man, but what he held wasn't something Gajeel wanted to have. A chain, a long chain with a lock and Gajeel knew exactly where it was going.

He fought and he struggled to be released by the hordes of people but they had iron grips. They wouldn't let him go. And soon enough, Gajeel was chained to one of the posts in the village.

"You're going to stay here," Ikagura stated to Gajeel as the cold metal was finished being wrapped around him.

Gajeel didn't reply, but he sent her a glare as a cold winter breeze brushed by his cheek.

"And we're going to kill that bitch- I mean witch," a smirk slipped across her lips as she watched his anger rise to the surface. She'd rather the anger not be directed towards her, but she'd suffer through it. If that meant 'saving' him from the witch's hands.

"I'll kill you," he growled at her but her smirk only spread out more.

"Have fun with that," she replied before turning back to the group, "Let's go!"

/

It had been over an hour since Gajeel left and there was still no sign of him. There was no note, no message at all. Not even any of the appliances knew where he had gone to. He had just..disappeared.

Honestly, Levy knew that day would come eventually. He would end up leaving her just like the last guy did. At least the last guy though had enough decency to tell her he was going. It may have been in a cruel way, but he didn't just abandon her.

Slowly tears started trickling down her pale cheeks as she stared at the mirror in her room. She wasn't supposed to fall in love again, she didn't want to. She knew that no matter what she did she would get hurt in the end. But she did...she defied all her morals and did it again.

It was stupid, really.

"Levy-chan, let me in," Lucy called from outside the door but Levy ignored her. She didn't want to be seen.

It was stupid to have hope that she could finally break the curse, that she could be able to live like a normal girl.

"Um..Lucy..." a voice mumbled outside, Natsu.

"What is it?" Lucy replied with an irritated tone.

"There's something going on outside," the candle explained.

"...what?"

"It looks like a bunch of villagers are rioting! They've brought giant forks and candles!" he yelled but even that didn't catch Levy's attention. She didn't care anymore, she just wanted to stop hurting. She didn't want to be in pain anymore.

"What?" Lucy screamed, "Levy! You need to hide!"

"I'm fine..." the bluenette mumbled but not enough for Lucy to hear it. She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, trying to comfort herself. But it was hard to when she couldn't force her mind to think about anything else but him. Sometimes she really wished she was truly emotionless.

"Men suck..."

"Damn, she's heartbroken..." Lucy mumbled from outside before turning back to Natsu, "Guess we've got to defend this castle ourselves."

"YOSH!" Natsu yelled as he pumped his candle fist in the air before hopping over to the stairs.

Lucy held an exasperated expression on her feather duster face but she followed him anyways. Levy was their friend, and they were the type that would always protect their friends.

Especially when they were hurting.


	28. Chapter 28

He felt pretty silly. But in his defense, being chained up to a pole could make anyone feel silly. Actually...no that wasn't true. More of the times it would make them feel frightened by Gajeel didn't fear the villagers.

What he did fear was what they would do to his friend.

It was a strange feeling to fear that. A month ago, Gajeel wouldn't have cared about any of it. Of course, he wouldn't join the riot but it wouldn't have mattered to him. It wasn't something he desperately wanted to stop. He didn't want them to hurt Levy. Just the thought of it made Gajeel want to rip off Ikagura's smug face.

But it wasn't just her he was worried about. He was worried what they might do to the annoying appliances because it was clear they were spawns of magic. Would they burn them just like Levy? Or maybe they'd take advantage and try to keep them as slaves. Gajeel hated the thought.

But...it just...gave him a weird feeling when he realized how fond he grew of them in just a month.

"Um...hello." A voice forced Gajeel back to reality and he whipped his head around to see who had talked. At first, there was nothing. Only the shadows from the fallen sun remained...but then he saw the man. The man hiding within the shadows.

Slowly, the man came into view to reveal his face.

He was young, but not too young. He had devilish red eyes with black hair and a scar across his nose, but that didn't make him any less pretty.

Not that Gajeel thought he was pretty or anything, it was just a statement.

"Hello," the man repeated with more confidence, "I am Rogue."

/

The doors were barricaded with everything they could find. With furniture, with clothes, even with some of the talking furniture. They weren't letting those mobs get in easily.

"They've got a battering ram!" one of the appliances exclaimed, one Lucy known to be Jet.

"Stand ground!" The tea kettle, Erza yelled. And despite the furniture clashing to the ground with each hit of the battering ram, none dared to defy her.

The ones too fragile or not heavy enough to help barricade the door started getting in position around the area, just laying about to look like helpless objects.

Anyone that knew them would not that they aren't anything like what they appeared to be.

With each bang against the door, more yelling could be heard. Lucy didn't know how many people had showed up but when she saw out the window, it looked like over a hundred. Each of them held a bloodthirsty face, especially the one in the front. A pink haired woman led the charge, but she seemed the most angry.

"Are we ready?" Erza asked the others since the barricade was falling fast. Their battering ram was stronger than they expected.

"Aw yeah!" Natsu yelled and pumped a fist in the air and Erza took his answer.

Perhaps not the best answer to take, but Lucy supposed it wasn't horrible. She hadn't seen him fight much, except with the ice tray sometimes, but she had a feeling her wasn't horrible. Natsu felt like a fighter at heart.

However, that could also be fairly scary.

"Pull back!" Erza yelled. The ones still remaining at the door hopped away to get someone a little further but they didn't have much time before the door smashed open.

Then showed the villagers coming in. The ones at the front seemed hesitant to approach, almost scared to. Except for the one girl Lucy noticed earlier, that girl was only more amused.

She was enjoying what was happening and she gave off a sadistic aura. Lucy didn't know why she was so content but she didn't care to find out either. Lucy was just going to do her best to protect Levy.

"The furniture is all just laying about," the girl that was in the front, the one with pink hair, chuckled as she glanced around at the area. "She must not have good taste, or she's too lazy clean. Would make a terrible housewife, really."

Jealousy. Lucy sound sense jealousy in the girl's voice. Well it answered the question on why she enjoyed it, but not on why she was jealous. Lucy was curious, but again she wouldn't really question it. At least not to the person...but Lucy did enjoy looking for clues. Mystery novels were always quite fun.

"What a rude thing to say," Erza grumbled and all the human eyes turned to her. It didn't seem like any landed in the actual tea cup though.

"Was that a ghost?" One of the frightened ones questioned.

"Of course it wasn't, idiot," the pink haired lady smacked him but Lucy noted her knuckles turning white. "It's simply a witch's house."

"That's not anymore reassuring," another random one exclaimed.

"I saw her myself, she's nothing to be afraid of. She's small, almost like a child," again, the pink haired lady spoke.

"Size doesn't decide magic abilities!" someone complained.

"Oh stop acting like a baby," the woman rolled her eyes as parts of the group started to panic, "if we don't do this now then she'll kill your children."

That sentence almost made Lucy smile by how ridiculous it was. At first, Levy was deliberately rude to get people to go away but it didn't take long to get to know her. Anyone that actually knew Levy that she wouldn't hurt a fly, much less a baby. And, she was just too adorable to do any of that stuff. How one could think such a thing perplexed the feather duster.

"Okay...well then now what?" a random one's head turned to the woman for advice but someone else answered him.

"We fight," the tea kettle, Erza replied again and all eyes moved over to her direction.

"It was a ghost!" another random person yelled .

"Erza-san is not a ghost!" Juvia, the umbrella, yelled back but that only frightened them more.

"Anyways," Erza screamed to the other appliances, "Attack!"

and then the chaos started.

/

"Rogue? Should I know that name?" Gajeel raised an eyebrow at the strange looking man. He didn't appear like the other villagers, for one..he looked fairly wealthy. He had a nice outfit on with matching black hair and red eyes. There was also a scar that stretched over his nose.

Gajeel knew he wasn't from the village, but he still recognized him a little.

"No, I guess you shouldn't." His red eyes darted around the area, searching for something. Eventually, when his eyes landed on it, he started moving towards it.

"Okay...well what are you doing here?" Gajeel raised an eyebrow while trying to glance back at the weirdo, but the man was in his blindspot.

"I'm here to free you so you can save Levy, I imagine she's hurt right now."

A sour taste filled Gajeel's mouth. "How do you know her name?" he snarled at 'Rogue'.

In an instant, the man reappeared into Gajeel's sight with an axe in his hands.

"That's a different story." He moved closer to Gajeel and Gajeel tried to move away but the chains kept him still.

"It probably isn't," Gajeel grumbled and his eyes flew shut as the man raised his axe. The chains held him in place, he couldn't move, he couldn't dodge. Heck, he couldn't even fight back.

The only thing he seemed able to do was close his eyes and brace for the pain. But maybe the man was kind enough to take him down cleanly so Gajeel wouldn't feel a thing.

Nah, Gajeel didn't want that. If he was going down, Gajeel was going down all the way.

As he tried to prepare for the different ways he could get hurt, the chains slipped off his side.

"There," the man said and Gajeel opened his eyes to see him dropping the axe to the soil ground. "You can go now."

"W...what?" Gajeel questioned and his arms instinctevly fell down to his side.

"You were chained, now you're not," Rogue stated in a blunt tone, "Go save Levy."

"How do you know her name?" Gajeel asked but he blinked and when he opened his eyes again, the man was gone.


	29. Chapter 29

Chairs and desks were flying everywhere, furniture blasting forwards towards the group like they were some type of missile that didn't exist in this timeline. Screams of both furniture and people echoed through the old, gloomy castle giving it some life if only for a moment.

And in the midst of all of the chaos, of all the havoc that seemed to break the world, there was one candle...one candle that could save them all.

Or...at least that was what he kept saying.

Like some sort of ferocious dragon, the candle lept from the top of the stairs, his flames glittering down by his side, and landed on one of the villagers. The man grunted beneath the weight but would've preferred that to what had come next. Without remorse, without even the slightest hint of mercy, the pink candle would lean his arm down and press the flames against the locks of beautiful hair. Well, once beautiful hair because onces the blaze consumed it, its beauty fell into the pits of Hell.

However, he wasn't the only victim. Like some sort of serial hair destroyer, he hopped from head to head setting as much hair as he could into charred strands.

Another warrior in this battle was a teapot, something that should've been fragile but held all the strength in the world. Like there was no chance of them losing, they ran (hopped) into the middle of the night and with boiled water in her belly, she would pour it onto the feet's of the attackers.

Their screeches and screams ran like children's as they jumped on one foot as if it would help their steaming limb. When the jumping didn't work, they would run from the castle to find the tiniest bit of snow to give them some comfort.

Yet there was still one warrior, one that was different from the rest.

Instead of fighting them herselves (though she did fluff a few up with her feather tail) she was more like a commander but only for two. She commanded a lion skin and a small statue of a cow, helping them to be able to defeat the Intruders of their home.

And together along with the rest of the furniture, they were able to fend off the attackers well except for one. One pink haired intruder was able to slip past them and head for the true target.

* * *

Gajeel had no clue who that guy was or why he had helped him, but he stopped caring about that the moment his legs started to move.

His large body burst through the forest, twigs cracking beneath his feet but the large branches in front of him shattered into pieces when he ran through them. There was strength in his body, one that he wasn't sure he ever encountered before except for when he was working in the blacksmith. Normally he enjoyed the strength because it made him feel powerful but right now, it only came because he was scared.

What was he scared of?

Blue hair and a smile as kind as the sun danced in his mind when he thought of his fear, because it was her. He wasn't scared of her, no...he was scared of losing her. He was scared of her being in pain because of him. It felt foolish to think of such a thing when they hadn't known each other for long...and yet he couldn't help it. Everytime he thought of what might happen to her, an aching pain jabbed in his chest and he started to feel lonely.

He had never felt this before.

As he continued to push through the forest like it was the only thing keeping him from Levy, he felt a crimson rose tighten around his cheeks. He was in love. He didn't realize it when they were together how much she meant to him, only now that they were apart would it come up. Already with his first experience he could tell he hated love.

It was manipulative and played with those involved for its own amusement, but as he remembered back to when he was with her, he could feel a more gentle touch. It gave peace and the purest type of happiness that he wasn't sure he would ever get to experience again if he didn't save her.

He needed to save her.

With that sole thought now occupying his once busy mind, he finally reached the castle.

Villagers with pitchforks and torches were at the front of the door while people with burning heads would run out. Second by second, Gajeel watched as villagers continued to run out of the castle until there were only a few left.

A smirk slipped onto his lips when he realized the weird little guys were winning.

The pride he felt (which he would never confess to) only lasted for a moment until he looked up and saw a horrific sight.

There was Levy and she was looking rather fine if Gajeel would admit it, but that wasn't the horrible sight. There she was, dangling from the window's ledge with only her tiny hands to hold her up.

* * *

"You filthy little cow," Levy didn't recognize the voice that stormed through her bedroom and interrupted her private space, but she didn't care either. She had seen the chaos from her bedroom window, watching as the villagers came with their pitchforks and torches. It was something that was bound to happen eventually, but right now she couldn't see to find the fight in herself.

She had wished the servants had decided to just give her up and pretend to be furniture but considering the way some of the townspeople ran, she knew that wasn't the case. She felt guilty for not helping them when she knew they fought for her, but the swelling in her heart stopped her from moving at all. It was as if her entire world crashed when Gajeel had left, she felt as if there was nothing left for her now.

And she was content with letting them take her.

However she didn't expect 'cow' to be an insult for a witch.

Whike sitting on the window sill and her now dull eyes glazing over her home, she glanced back towards the intruder to see who was brave enough to come on their own. A pink haired busty girl was there to greet her with an expression on her face that screamed of rage.

Levy sighed as she turned back, not bothering to fight this strange girl.

"You think you can just steal my man, do you?" the woman hissed at the witch, "You freak, I'll have you burned for that."

Steal her man? Levy rose an eyebrow from her own curiousity but couldn't bring herself to actually speak.

"Silence eh? You think you're better than me?" Levy listened as the woman's footsteps danced around the room while she came closer. "You think Gajeel actually likes you?"

"What..?" Levy's words fell from her mouth before her brain gave it the go ahead. "Gajeel..?"

"Pfft are you so stupid you didn't even know his name you little slut?" the woman scoffed as she got close enough to touch Levy. "He wasn't here because he likes you, he was here because he was afraid of you," she tilted her head and a wicked aura emitted from the mortal girl, "Stupid freak."

"I offered him a home," Levy mumbled as she turned back to the woman, confusion now ringing in her mind as she felt her cheeks heat up. "He didn't need to stay! And I wasn't trying to make him like me!" she defended but more from her own embarrassment.

"Well you clearly liked him," the woman put a hand on her hip, "Did you honestly think he would like you back?"

"I didn't try to make him like me..." Levy mumbled to herself, not answering the question.

"Did you honestly think he would like you back?" the woman hissed as she repeated her question.

This time, Levy was quiet but the red on her cheeks spreading like the plague spoke for her.

"You bitch!" The woman moved forward, faster than Levy expected and pressed her hands against the witch. With hate in her eyes, the woman pushed with as much force as she could until glass shattered and Levy went out the window.

Before she could plummet into the icy waters of her death, the girl grabbed onto the window ledge and stared up.

"You freak, you should just let go," the woman smirked as she stepped forward, proud of what she done, "Nobody wants you here anyways."

Levy's fingers grasped onto the cold ledge but she could feel her grip slipping and honestly, she wasn't scared because she didn't care. She didn't care if she lived or not because now, she knew she had lost everything.

With the same twisted smirk on her ruby red lips, the woman grabbed onto the hand holding Levy up and tore it from the window ledge. "Long live the witch," she said as she let the blue haired girl go and fall through the air.

* * *

 **Hi guys! I'm so sorry it took me FOREVER to write this. Well actually writing time I did this in about an hour or so during class .. ANYWAYS I just want to apologize. I got incredibly caught up with my OS that I completely left writing fanfiction to work on it. However, I searched up my username out of curiousity to see what would pop up (I use this for basically everything so if you see this then say hi :D) and saw that someone recommended this on Tumblr. I had NO idea and that was like whoaaa. Having someone recommend your work is so amazing like you don't even know.**

 **Then I started reading through the reviews and felt super guilty about not updating because you guys actually did like it.**

 **So here's the point of this, since I have no followers on my OS anyways so no one is waiting, I will try to at least complete this story. I can't make any promises on the other ones since they're not as close to completion but I will try really hard to do this one.**

 **Anyways I hope you all enjoyed his chapter (tried to make it as funny and good as possible to make up for my long absence) and you guys should definitely leave reviews. I'm not saying just on my stories but on all stories, even hiatus ones because they can inspire the author to keep going. It means so much to the author that you guys appreciate that.**

 **So anyways AGAIN hope to see you all again soon :D**


	30. Chapter 30

_Levy_

* * *

 _LEVY_

* * *

 ** _LEVY_**

The voice ran in her head like a sprinter in a marathon, screaming out her name with desperation dripping in their words. Fear and panic laced through their voice as it kept screaming out the same word, Levy. It was just a simple word yet each time they yelled it out, more passion slipped through its very essence as if the word meant the world to the owner of the voice.

As if they were willing to die for it.

While the blue haired girl fell, her mind as numbed as her broken heart, she started to think about it. How could just one, singular word meant so much. Out of all the words in their language, how could that one make such an impact.

It was...peculiar.

While the wind pierced through her clothes and jabbed at her vulnerable flesh, the girl felt her head turning. Curiousity struck inside her mind, to see what type of person would put so much meaning into a word that only stayed in the air for less than a second.

There was a man, over by the bridge. He was a strange man, one covered in piercings and black hair that spiked up as if it was thorns. He wasn't like anyone else she had seen before.

He was special.

 _"LEVY!"_

The man screamed again and as the girl neared the icy river enough to feel the cold emitting from it. His voice was so rough and hard, but it felt gentle against her skin as if it was gentle just for her.

Like she was just as important as the word, maybe more.

Sudden memories bolted through her mind, connecting all the pieces that the thought of death and the horrific comments had wiped away to give her a more peaceful death.

But as those memories of her and him stormed through her mind, she felt a smile grow on her face. The memories of them being together, of him smiling, of them having fun made her feel better. Even with her own fear of him leaving her, seeing him here now so scared of her death made her feel better as well and though it made her feel guilty, she liked it. She liked that he was scared of losing her just as much as she was of him.

It made her feel special, it made her feel a sense of love she wasn't sure if she would ever feel again.

A soft, passion grew inside her chest that warmed up her whole body. It inspired her, gave her hope again.

Hope and the will to live.

Before her body would plunge into the river of death that laid below her castle, she lifted her hand and everything seemed to run in slow motion from there. Words, words from another language spoke from her small lips and glitter danced over her fingertips. In an instant, her body stopped falling. Her body stopped falling from the sky and instead laid in the air like she was in someone's arms, as if someone had caught her.

More words uttered through her lips, words that were incomprehensible to any simple ears, and the girl started to levitate. Blue glitter danced in the air as it twirled below the girl and she slowly came up. Her face was soft as her eyes glazed upwards, her hand still reaching in front of her as the invisible force pulled her up until she made it to the bridge. Without any surprise in what had happened, she put both hands on the side of the bridge and pulled herself up. She swung one leg over the edge then brought the other over until she was fully on one side right beside Gajeel.

Confidence that had run through her veins without any hesitation before seemed to disappear as she stared up at the man that grew her heart then broke it at the same time.

"Uh...h-h-h-h," Levy stuttered as she looked up at the man, her voice failing her just as quickly as her, once known to be intelligent, mind. She stood there in silence even though her thoughts were racing around like there were chores to be done.

However Gajeel, was different. As if they had switched roles, Gajeel showed a wide amount of emotion that he couldn't control.

"Are you okay?" He asked in a panicked voice, his hands gripping onto her shoulders...his strong but gentle hands...

Levy felt herself die a little.

"U-Uh..." she stuttered again, unable to form one logical thought that could be put into words.

"I thought I lost you there! I was so worried!" Gajeel gripped onto her shoulders harder as he leaned down to look into her eyes, his face inches from her.

She couldn't feel her toes anymore.

At the sight of her red face, Gajeel seemed to snap out of whatever delusional state of mind he fell into. Like a tomato, Gajeel's face burst into a colourful shade of red that highlighted every inch of his face even as he turned away. "S-Sorry," he mumbled, trying to regain his composure but it didn't matter, she had seen the worry in his eyes.

She knew that whatever that pink haired lady said was a lie.

"It's fine," Levy mumbled as her words finally returned when he returned to normal. "But..." the blue haired girl looked to the side, "Where did you go?"

"Where did I..." Gajeel paused as he tilted his head, curiousity ringing in his bold red eyes but after a moment's thought, he realized what she had meant. "Oh that? I realized we were missing something and I left to get it but..." Gajeel looked back at the villagers that were running from the castle after getting their asses whooped by furniture, "Well this happened."

"Oh...you went to get something..." Levy's eyes fell down as both guilt and shame jumped through her throat. Of course something had happened, of course there were other reasons for his absence, it was...silly of her to immediately jump to a conclusion like that. However, instead of facing her guilt with an apology or even acceptance, she decided to take it out on him.

After all, in the end it was his fault she was feeling this way.

"You idiot!" she yelled and smacked him in the chest, "Why didn't you tell me? I was worried you have just left or something!"

"Why would I have done that?" Gajeel frowned as she hit him but wasn't annoyed enough to actually stop her.

"I don't know," Levy looked down, her eyes showing how much she truly did know but she wasn't letting it on. Fortunately for her, either Gajeel didn't notice or he decided to let it go.

"You don't eh..." Gajeel glanced to the side before his eyes moved up the tower and to the window of her bedroom. Shards of glass stayed in the sill of the window, just peaking out like spikes in a pit of death. "Did you just jump?" he questioned as her narrowed his eyes as he saw nothing that could've pushed her through the open window but he wasn't entirely convinced.

"No someone shoved me out," Levy confessed as her own kind eyes moved up to the tower but right now, that didn't seem to matter. Someone trying to kill her didn't matter to her right now. Now that Gajeel was back, there was nothing in the world that mattered more than him.

"Who?" the red eyed man growled as he narrowed his gaze at the space she fell from even though it was empty.

"I didn't catch her name-" Levy went to go on but Gajeel cut her words short with his own.

"Her?" his growled fell lower as he clenched his fist, rage stirring in his gut, "Did she have pink hair?"

Levy nodded though her eyebrow creased in curiousity. The woman, the strange but angry woman kept calling Gajeel her man as if they were dating. Levy hadn't thought about it much at the time since she was already in pain, but it wouldn't have made sense for Gajeel to even had a girlfriend. Not when he was living with Levy, he wouldn't have seen her at all.

And the way the mere thought of her seemed to make him coil with rage.

"Yes," she said at last after her moments of thought, evaluating the situation. It hadn't been long since she had actually done it, but it felt as if it had been an eternity. For most of her life, her brain was what helped her get through everything. And he took that away from her, just by leaving. This feeling, she had felt it before...she had felt it with him.

Her eyes glazed down at the ground as memories passed by her mind. He was a lot like Gajeel. They both had the red eyes, the black hair, though Gajeel was bulkier, and they were both antisocial. It was fun, Levy remembered that even though the painful times were the most vibrant in her mind, there were fun times.

She shook her head, she shouldn't be thinking about that now. What had happened before discouraged her to the point of depression and now that there was finally the hint of hope, she needed to hold onto it.

"That f*cking bitch," Gajeel hissed as his fist clenched as tight as it could've without him breaking anything. His eyes were away from her, pained but not because of the pink haired girl, but because Levy had gotten hurt from something involving him. The rage burned within his stomach, making its way all around his body like he was a silhouette drawing with only red covering his body.

Then, without any other words, he started to walk towards the castle.

"Wait!" Levy called out as she reached her hand towards him, "Where are you going?"

Gajeel turned back, his eyes still filled with a rage powerful enough for even a witch like Levy to have never seen before. "I'm going to finish this."

 **Hey guys! Hope you enjoy this chapter too, please tell me if you see any grammer mistakes too, I can't catch anything. Anyways big shoutout to Where'sTheFood by the way! They were the ones that helped inspire me to keep writing this :D.**

 **Also first person to find the hidden Disney reference gets a shout out in the next one because I don't have any prizes to offer.**


	31. Chapter 31

Rain, the tears of the sky, trickled down Rogue's pale face as he sat beneath a tree. His leg was out stretched as the other was bent, closer to his face and giving his arms a place to rest as he sat there to ponder. His mind was like a racing horse carriage at some times but right now, everything seemed to have slowed down. It was as if the horse had finally stopped and given him some time to grasp onto everything. Like it was shattered into pieces, his mind had been broken long before which is why he had to leave but now being able to have it even for a moment was a gift.

It was a miracle.

But his thoughts weren't entirely pleasant. Most of them were wondering why he would free Gajeel, when he knew in the end Gajeel would only be broken too. Why would he free someone where the one who loved Gajeel was the one who take away Rogue's own mind. He wanted her to pay for that but...

He knew in the end it wasn't her fault.

Still...he shook his head, it was her fault. She never warned him and she was so desperate for love that she could only see through rose coloured glasses. She never saw him hurting so she couldn't help him with her magic until it was too late and that was what he blamed her for.

Sin of omission.

Yet even as he forced the rage in his mind and hatred in his gut, he still knew his heart was working behind his back. It didn't want her in pain, it wanted her to be happy again even if that meant it wasn't with him.

And like his mind was being hit with a hammer, it shattered again.

* * *

"Finish what?" Levy asked, biting the bottom of her lip as she watched him storm towards the castle. At first she just stood there, a little bit shocked by the sudden rage and how hot he look-...how he just seemed to leave her behind.

"Guess." Gajeel snorted but didn't mean to be cruel to her, Levy could tell that much at least.

"Gajeel, what's going on?" Levy asked quietly as she walked towards him. Her life and death experience seemed to have faded from her mind as far as possible as she focused on him.

"I-..." he paused as his gaze fell to the ground, "I'll tell you later, okay? I just need to protect you right now."

The crimson red blush seemed to return to Levy's cheeks as she looked up at him. "Okay..." she mumbled sheepishly, letting her embarrassment get the best of her before she started to walk again, "I'll come with though."

"I don't think you understand the meaning of protecting you," Gajeel stated with a dull look as he glanced down at her.

"No but I need to protect you too." Levy gave him a grin.

"Twerp," Gajeel snorted as he placed his hand on her head, "Do you really think you can protect me?"

"I think I can," Levy exclaimed as she gave him a nod. She knew his words weren't meant to be harsh, not in a cruel way but in a teasing way. Even with the circumstances they were under, he found the time to be playful with her like no one else could. It felt good to have someone like that.

"Fine," he gave her a soft smile as he pulled his hand back, "But if you get hurt I'm going to be pissed and hurt you more."

"The logic in is sound," Levy nodded with a smile of her own as she looked up at him with her onyx orbs.

Gajeel gave her head another pat before he turned again as suddenly like a balloon was popped, the rage festered inside him burst into flames while he stormed towards the castle.

* * *

The attack was easy enough to get through, since most of the villagers were fending off the attack while only Natsu mistook them for a villager and went to attack them. Well at least that's what Natsu said, but since it was only Gajeel he was trying to burn, Levy had another idea about that.

They pushed through the attack, avoiding most, until had gotten through it all and headed upstairs. Whether or not the woman was still upstairs or not was left to be decided, but that didn't stop the two from going up.

Levy clung close to the back of Gajeel, her hand gently resting in front of her as she debated on grabbing onto his shirt or not. There was no actual reason for her to grab onto it but she felt an urge inside of her that pressed on her to grab it...to be closer to him. The thought made her blush but it was still hard to repress.

"It was in your room right?" Gajeel asked as he came to her door, his large hand wrapping around the familiar knob.

At Levy's nod, Gajeel pushed until it gave a click then swung the door open so hard Levy was afraid it would break.

"Oh so you got free," a voice hummed as they walked in. "Isn't that a shame?"

"What the hell is wrong with you, Ikagura?" Gajeel growled as the girl looked back at them all, her pink hair flowing down as she sat on Levy's bed.

"Me? What's wrong with you?!" the pink haired lady, apparently Ikagura, accused as she pointed her finger at him. Levy wanted to insult the finger in her mind, call it wrinkly or old maybe even dirty but she couldn't. It was smooth like a child's cheek before it was stained with tears. Honestly, the girl sitting on her bed as if she owned the place was gorgeous, perhaps even perfect if it wasn't for the sanity that seemed to be leaking out of her eyes until chaos could take hold. "Here I am, a beautiful girl that is wanted by every man in the village and you choose," her delicate finger moved towards Levy instead, "a literal witch that lives alone with talking furniture."

"That does make you sound strange," Levy murmurred beneath her breath but by the expression she got from Gajeel she knew it wasn't as silent as she would've liked.

"You're a creep," Gajeel exclaimed as he crossed his arms, his gaze staring intently at Ikagura, "That can't seem to take a no for an answer. You're just a spoiled brat that think you can just get whatever you want." She frowned at his insults but he kept going. "You doll yourself up and prey on weak men to do your crap so you don't ever have to work, you're just lazy..." he glared hard, "Now get out!"

Ikagura stared at him, her eyes showing a mixture of emotions that splashed through her mind as she tried to reach a conclusion. Eventually, she landed on one that shocked Levy.

"Y-You're right..." she mumbled as her head fell into her hands. "You're so right, I'm just a spoiled child," she shook her head as sobbing noises echoed off her body, "I shouldn't have done this."

Having more shock than Levy herself, Gajeel stood there with his mouth open. "Uh..." he mumbled, any comprehensible words seeming leave his lips and letting him stand there helpless.

"This was so wrong of me, I'm sorry," Ikagura apologized as she continued to hold her head in her hands, "I'm so sorry."

"I-It's okay..." Levy murmured as she watched the girl, an uneasy feeling settling in her stomach but she felt herself moving forward. The girl...Levy barely knew her but she could see that she was in pain. She could see all the guilt rising up in the poor girl's stomach as her actions finally broke through the subconscious mind. That hurt Levy, watching the girl seem to break in two and a maternal instinct brought her closer, to comfort her. "It's okay..." Levy mumbled as she stepped closer until she was almost reaching the bed, "It's just...good that you know now," she said awkwardly while she finally got to the pink haired girl.

However, the moment she was there, the sobbing seemed to end. Like a switch turned on inside her head, a smirk slipped across her face and a blade fell from the girl's sleeve.

Then, all Levy saw was red.

 **"Like a silhouette drawing with only red covering his body" was the Disney reference referring to when Lilo made the little rage drawing for Stitch to show him how angry he was. It was wayyy more subtle than the last 'long live the king' though lol.**

 **Anyways thanks for still reading everyone :D**


	32. Chapter 32

"I thought everything was going well..." her words felt like burning lies even against her own lips. Even as they stood there then with tears streaked down her cheeks she knew she couldn't keep it hidden anymore. All of those signs, those signs that she pretended weren't real, they were just apart of her imagination...she had seen it all.

She had been there when he was standing in the washroom with his face in front of a mirror. His hands clenched onto the wall at the side of the mirror, his fingers trying to crawl his way inside as his head twitched. It was as if sanity was leaking from his mind right there and then and he kept trying to hold onto it.

She had been there when he was chopping wood and couldn't seem to break a piece. Frustration ran through his bones at a simple problem until it drove him crazy and he threw the axe, almost hitting Natsu with it. He stood there for moments, his eyes blank, until he grabbed the axe and tried again.

She had even been there when he sat at the table and couldn't remember how to pronounce his name.

But through it all, she had just sat there with a silent mouth. She pretended nothing was wrong, like everything was the same.

As if there was no curse.

And now she was paying the price.

"You don't understand, L-L-L..." the black haired man paused as he stood in front of her, his mind numbing as he stared at her.

"Levy," the blue haired girl said but he was onto something else now.

"A-And the feather duster, it talks!" he exclaimed with wide eyes as his gaze moved around the room even though none of the servants were there. "All of it talks!"

"Yes...it does," Levy nodded as she kept her eyes on him. He knew this already, or he should have at least.

"I can't..." the man shook his head as his red eyes fell to the ground as something came back to him, "I can't...do this."

"What?" Levy tilted her head.

"I can't do this, I can't." He brought his eyes back to her and for a moment, she could see some sanity returning to him, "I'm losing myself."

And just as fast as it came, it was gone.

"Do you think people eat shadows?" he questioned as his head looked up at a blank ceiling, "Or fire?"

"You want to leave?" Levy asked as her gaze stayed on him, trying to redirect him back to their conversation. Yet...her words no longer pierced him. His mind was on its own now, away from her.

It was...gone.

* * *

Blood there was so much blood, the red streams poured down onto the floor, pooling until her whole room had looked like a murder scene. Well in reality, it almost was.

As much as she praised her own intelligence, her reaction time seemed to have slowed in this situation. At first, she thought it wasn't her own blood and that someone else's had spread across her floor and clothes. Then, she started to think that it wasn't blood, that it wasn't the right shade of blood. It was just a red paint that had somehow gotten everywhere.

And by the time Levy had dawned on the realization that the blood was coming from her, it had been too late.

Pain roared in her chest as her body fell to the ground. Her mind grew numb as panic swarmed through her body like locusts in a plague. Nothing looked right anymore as her eyes raced around the room wildly with magic trying to pierce through her fingertips but nothing could get through. Her body wasn't able to focus on anything but the pain, at least not enough to let her heal it.

"Levy!" a voice screamed out her name but it wasn't lost to her, not like when she was falling. Everything was real, but everything was wrong at the same time.

Her gaze moved up towards him, no longer looking around as they landed on something important to her. Him.

Worry and fear was wrapped around Gajeel's face as he leaned down, his strong arms wrapping around her body as he pulled her closer. "L-Levy," he stuttered as he stared down at her bleeding body. His mind was running rapid as they worked like gears in a machine but that was what he knew. He didn't know bodies, at least not enough to stop a stab wound. Yet as she felt his strong arms leave her side, she knew he was still going to try.

"Pressure...pressure," Gajeel muttered to himself as he stood up straight again and started to look around for a suitable cloth he could use. "Need to put pressure on it.."

"Don't be silly," Ikagura laughed as she laid back on the bed, stretching her arms out onto Levy's blankets with the knife stained of the bluenette's soul still in her hands. "You can leave her and the curse she put on you to be with me," she hummed.

"Don't be...silly..." Gajeel stopped in his spot. Like an dragon being released from a cage too small for it, Gajeel turned towards her with fury in his eyes. "There is no curse she put on me! I just love her why can't you understand that? Why can't you understand I don't love _you_?" he hissed as he glared at her, stepping forward with his eyes staring directly at her, "Why do you go to these extremes to make everyone else unhappy?"

Ikagura paused then sat back up and moved her body her body forward, pressing her lips together, "Because I'm a _bitch._ "

Gajeel couldn't help himself this time, his fist flying forward and connecting with her jaw.

Her body flew back, crashing into the bed behind her and Gajeel turned back towards Levy. "Don't bother me while I try to fix her up," he hissed as he looked around. After searching for a few seconds and finding nothing, he went over to the window. His hands gripped onto the fabric of the curtain and pulled it apart, ripping it into a smaller piece.

In a more rushed pace now, Gajeel ran over to Levy and knelt beside her. He wrapped the fabric around her stomach to try and stop the bleeding but with his shaky hands, it was taking him much too long to wrap it around.

"Gajeel..." her voice felt weak as her eyes stared up at him, an emotion incomprehensible to his mind but he felt his heart breaking from it. And when she started to close her eyes, he felt panic rush through his veins until he couldn't feel his toes anymore.

"Levy wait, don't close your eyes!" Gajeel called out as he pressed his hand onto her should, fear lacing through his voice.

But she wasn't listening to him anymore.

With a smile grazing against her paling lips, he watched as her eyes started to close and words as weak as a man to money uttered from her lips. "I..." she paused as her smile grew more but when her eyes closed, her voice faded, "love you too.."

"Levy!" Gajeel yelled out and all his focus fell to her, forgetting about the pinkette in the room, "Don't close your eyes! Come on! Open them!"

Even with his panicked voice trying to reach her ears and pull her back to the light...to pull her back to him, but nothing seemed to work. There was no rope for her to hold onto and drag herself back, there was nothing.

Nothing but her lifeless body.

"Y-You..." Gajeel's words stuttered from his lips as his eyes stared down at the girl in front of him, a girl that had brought him so much. A girl that he didn't find out how much he truly appreciated until he lost her. A weight fell on his heart at the thought.

"You killed her!" he screamed as he jumped up, rage taking over his body to try and calm the grief inside of him. He lunged towards the pink haired girl without any proper thought going through his mind. All he knew was that he wanted revenge.

He wanted bloody revenge.

 **BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA Hope you all had fun with that. Another cliffhanger, man am I evil. On Mother's day too, goodness gracious me.**

 **Anyways, I've got a question. I have started writing a new story (one with a fairy tail touch) and I was wondering how I should go about this. The last one I wrote it all (took about one year) then typed it up (basically rewrote it and took another year) which sucked, will be honest, before I decided to upload it. The story's crap so I've discontinued uploading it but it's still my first novel. Anyways, I was thinking I should upload it as I write but then I wouldn't really be able to reedit or add chapters however I would probably get more motivation to actually do the writing if I had readers. I get ideas but motivation comes from the people.**

 **So anyways since you guys are readers (obviously) I thought I'd ask and see what you guys think :D**


	33. Chapter 33

As he lunged for her, something caught the corner of the eye. Something gold and something shining tore Gajeel's attention away from his blood craved revenge. Right where Levy laid a bright light shown over her like a blanket made of glitter was draped onto her lifeless body. Covering her features entirely and clinging to her body, it started to rise.

Turning Gajeel's mind and body away from everything else, his gaze stayed upon in confusion as he watched Levy's body levitate in the air without any clear sign of help or even a magic user. Even Ikagura paused to watch what was happening.

Other than the levitation part, nothing else seemed to happen for a few minutes. However, on the third minute, Gajeel could've sworn he saw a face. It was as if the face of a woman with golden locks dripping down her features flashed in his mind then disappeared. And then, then her body fell.

The glitter blanket vanished the same moment he saw the face and like all magic had left, she fell. Her body hit the floor gently, more gentle than it should have, and though she didn't appear much different...Gajeel noticed one thing first. There was no blood. All the horrible liquid that had stained her clothes and pooled onto the floor was gone. Next, he noticed that her dress wasn't ripped where the knife had embedded in her. It didn't even seem to have been sowed up. It was as if it never even happened.

He didn't want to pull up her dress to find out but a very large part of him hoped that it was the same for her wound.

But when he saw her eyes open, he knew it was.

"Levy!" Gajeel's voice moved before his brain did when he saw her...well at that moment everything in his brain just kind of stopped. His surroundings disappeared as everything went into focus on her. There was not a single thought that went through his mind that didn't contain her in some way or another as his eyes stayed focused solely on her. Without even needing to think, his legs started to move.

His knees slammed onto the ground as he intentionally went down, wrapping his arms around Levy's body and holding her closer not caring if she was awake or not. Losing her didn't feel real, but neither had getting her back. "Levy!" he called out again as he stared down at her, holding her tightly to make sure he wouldn't lose her again, he couldn't. He wasn't sure he would even want to go on if he lost her. Right now...Levy was everything to him.

"Gajeel?" Her voice was quiet but the moment he heard it, he knew it was her. It wasn't something pretending to be her, it wasn't some foul magic at play that brought his hopes up and crushed them in moments without regret. This was her, this was the Levy he knew.

"It's me, it's me," he said with a nod as he smiled down at her.

"What...what in the world happened?" she questioned as her sparkling orbs stared into his. It wasn't as loving as his own were, though he wouldn't admit it if anyone said anything. Did that make him a bad person since it was technically a lie? He decided it didn't, because he didn't care enough to think about it.

"Nothing, it's fine now," Gajeel pulled her back a bit to give her more space even if he didn't really want to, he knew she needed it.

"Nothing..." she rose an eyebrow at him, clearly questioning her words but right now wasn't the time to talk. He'd tell her, he just couldn't force the words out now. Admitting there was a time that she did pass made his tongue feel like he had licked some poison. Gajeel didn't want to have to go through that...not right then at least.

Within moments of her words full of confusion, her eyes went wide. Shock and panic ran through them, causing fear to rise in Gajeel's own body. At first, he was confused but as his mind started to click together, he started to remember something. There was still a threat around.

He turned his head at the last second to see Ikagura coming at them again. With rage boiling her blood until it was hot enough to cook food in it, she ran towards them with her blade still drawn. She was confused, there was no doubt about it and it was shown by the way her body moved. There was no thought or logic in her actions, it was something Gajeel had seen before. It was something he had done before. It was just anger, rage filled intentions.

"Why won't you just DIE?" she screamed as she raced towards Levy with the knife still clutched between her fingers. Only the tint of death lingered in her eyes.

Within a millisecond, Gajeel watched as Levy lifted her arm. Glittering bits of purple danced by her fingertips as she twisted her hand enough so that all of reality fell with it.

Gajeel had seen her use magic before, some for every day chores and some for just being lazy but this...this was on a whole different level. Everything felt like it had slowed down, at least everything that was surrounding her did. Time no longer existed in her world as the purple glazes jumped from her fingers and reached towards the unsuspecting pinkette.

Like a hand reached out from the divine's and wrapped its godly palm around the girl, she froze. Her whole body froze in its place as a purple aura seemed to emit from her, glistening around her still form. Magic had taken a hold of the girl.

"Wha-What is this.." Ikagura stuttered but her words quickly died down, anger taking over the confusion like it was nothing. "You witch!" she screamed towards Levy, "You filthy witch! That's all you are! You're not pretty, you're not wife worthy, you're NOTHING!" she screeched.

"I..." Levy tilted her head as she pushed herself up and out of Gajeel's arms so that she could sit up properly. "I feel bad for you," she mumbled as her eyes stared into Ikagura's, sincerity dancing in them.

"Feel bad for me?" Ikagura snorted with a roll of her eyes, no kind emotion anywhere in her. "You're a pathetic little witch that doesn't know anything except this castle," she smirked, "You're going to die alone."

"Maybe..." Levy narrowed her eyes but not in a harsh or cruel way, just one that was filled with sympathy and a curiousity that didn't really fit the situation, if he was honest. "But...I know I'll at least have found love once...since," she turned back towards Gajeel, "The curse has been broken."

"What?" Gajeel frowned as he looked down at her, seeming to ignore the fact that there was a woman frozen behind him. "Your curse?" he watched her carefully as his mind started to scour his memory to retrieve the piece of information. When it returned to his memory, he paused for a moment as he turned towards the girl, unsure of what her words truly meant. He had an idea, but the idea made him feel butterflies in his stomach and forced his cheeks to blush a red so vibrant no artist could truly capture it.

"The curse, the one put on me when I was younger," Levy smiled gently, letting the small change in her features light up her entire face. "The one where those I loved were hurt. I broke it, someone loved me even with the horrible curse," her small smile turned into a grin as she turned towards Gajeel instead, "Isn't that right?"

"Eh? Me?" Gajeel pointed to himself with confusion as if there was someone else that could've been a candidate for the race...Gajeel would've hated that if he was honest to himself.

"Yes you, dummy," she nodded, happiness written in her face as if it was a book.

"Uh..." he turned away, the red blush still coating his features as he tried to make sense of her words. No, that wasn't true, he already knew what her words meant. He knew exactly what she was taking about but for some reason, the surface of his mind forced himself to deny it. Embarrassment, shame, and even humiliation were all key suspects in the actions of his mind, but even they weren't able to shield him well enough.

"I heard you," Levy grinned up at him, not caring about his red face or denial. "I heard you. I heard you," she repeated again and again until she felt as if she was satisfied enough but said it one last time just to be sure. "I heard you!"

"You heard what?" Gajeel groaned as he used his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, silently grateful for the annoyance she caused him. Annoyance didn't always cause him pleasure but right then it felt like the greatest thing in the world because it was normal. Her teasing him and him acting annoyed was something usual for them, something that he could cling to.

"I heard it," Levy kept her smile up even with his poor attitude because it was familiar for her as well. "Don't make me say it though," she blushed as she turned away just like him.

"Oh my gosh please just end me," Ikagura groaned from her position, her own annoyance in her features but it was one different from Gajeel's. Hers wasn't familiar nor gave any sort of comfort, it was just a nuisance... but it matched her. "Don't make me watch this lovey dovey torment," she said as she rolled her eyes.

"Can I?" Gajeel questioned while tilting his head towards Levy.

"No you can't kill her," Levy glared at him before turning towards Ikagura again, "Why did you do all this?"

"Didn't you already ask?" the pink haired woman rolled her eyes again, her body still frozen from the spell Levy had cast.

"I know, but I'm asking again, why?" Levy repeated herself as she kept her gaze on Ikagura.

The woman said nothing.

Gajeel wasn't sure why Levy kept pushing on it, why she kept trying to reach the humane side of a woman willing to kill an innocent. If it was him, he was just finish her off to be free of such a demon but it wasn't him. This was Levy, this was someone who had their worlds torn apart in more ways than one, a girl cursed in more ways than just magic, a girl who had spent her life living with annoying furniture yet here she was, trying to save someone that didn't want to be saved. She was willing to put herself into harm's way just to give her a second chance. Levy was stronger than him, he had known that already, but this just gave him more clarity of it.

"Why would you care? I don't even know your name," Ikagura exclaimed with a snort but her words showed a curiousity posed in her corrupted mind. Why would Levy care, why would a stranger care about another stranger, the concept was foreign to a self centered person like her.

Though that wasn't entirely fair, after all, Gajeel didn't quite know either.

"Because you're a person too. You're someone just like me," Levy exclaimed softly, "If I let you go, will you still try to kill me?" she questioned.

"Maybe," Ikagura frowned but her eyes started to move away from the bluehaired girl, some shame shown through them.

"Well your honesty makes me trust you a little more," Levy giggled a bit at her and raised her hand as if to undo the spell.

"What are you doing?" Gajeel asked, putting his own hand in front of hers as if it would stop the transfer of magic. It didn't, but his position halted her willingness to cast it.

"What do you mean?" Levy asked.

"She literally just stabbed you in the stomach and I'm pretty sure you died," Gajeel explained with a deadpanned expression at the girl who seemed to have forgotten recent events.

"Well I'm back aren't I?" Levy gave him a small smirk as if her argument beat his.

"That doesn't matter, she didn't bring you back," Gajeel rolled his eyes but his words didn't affect her. Levy was dead set on this though and logical arguments wouldn't work on her. Even though the main part about her was her book smarts, emotions tended to take control of her.

"Yeah but I am back," Levy exclaimed with another nod, "So Ikagura, I'm going to let you go."

"That's stupid, I already tried to kill you," Ikagura glared at her, not sure what the bluenette's plan was but Gajeel knew better than she did. There was no plan, Levy was just...human. "You really wish to risk that again?"

"Well I don't think you'll try again," Levy tilted her head and a strange type of darkness hovering over golden eyes, "and after all...I am a witch."

With those simple words speaking a more threats than one would have imagined, Levy closed her hand and Ikagura was released from the spell. As if she had been dropped, the pinkhaired girl stumbled on her feet before catching herself and standing up straight. The knife was still clutched in her hand but there was hesitance in her eyes, hesitance that came from her mind. A confliction danced within her thoughts as she stared at Levy, options weighing down her mind. In the end, Gajeel wasn't sure what it was that convinced her in the end, whether it was the threat or just Levy's human nature, he just knew that Levy was apart of it. In frustration and anger, Ikagura raised her arms then threw the knife onto the ground. The blade clanged against the stone floor before hopping off to the side while Ikagura slammed her hands down with a frustrated growl as if she was throwing a tantrum.

"I hate you!" she screamed as she turned away, her eyes no longer looking towards the two as they stared at the door. As anger basically emitted off her body, Ikagura headed straight for the door. Her hands gripped onto the knob of it and swung it open before she walked out, slamming it closed behind her.

Then, then she just stood there.

Her mind was moving all over the place, leaving to free place fro her to grab onto and try to contain herself. It was as if her own sanity was running out of control, her world was falling apart.

Without reason or thought, Ikagura turned her head and something caught her eye. A torch, a torch with a dancing flame was hanging to the side right beside Levy's bedroom. A smirk stretched across her lips as she grabbed onto the bottom of it and then turned towards the wooden door, remembering the wool carpet on the other side. As she went to light the door on fire, something stopped her.

A hand grabbed onto her arm, pulling it back. Cursing, Ikagura turned her head back ready to fight whoever was stopping her but didn't recognize him. It was a man with spiky, salmon hair on his head, no clothes to cover himself with, and held an expression that made her believe he was some sort of mythical creature...like a dragon.

"Yeah, you're not going to do that," he exclaimed, his voice sounding slightly familiar though.

"Go away, this has nothing to do with you," she hissed back at the strange man.

"Meh, it kind of does," the man smirked, "It actually has to do with all of us..."

"Us...?" Ikagura frowned but with her words, more figures came into the light. She didn't recognize any of them, not the other naked raven haired man, not the blonde with the makeshift dress, the oddly fully armoured red haired woman, or even some blue cat. None of them were villagers, but they were all angry as hell.

And that was when she knew it was over for her.

* * *

"Well..that was weird," Gajeel muttered as he watched Ikagura leave, not exactly sure what was going on but happy that it was over.

"The world is weird," Levy exclaimed with a nod as she leaned back a bit, letting out an exasperated sigh. "At least I'm finally free of the curse though. That's always a silver lining." She smiled up at him.

"Right, the curse," Gajeel sighed while the crimson red blush coated his cheeks again.

"The curse," Levy grinned at him but there was pink on her own cheeks too, "Now what?"

"Now what?" Gajeel questioned but wouldn't dare to make eye contact with her.

"Now what do we do?" Levy asked as she laid her hands on her thighs, trembling against them. A nervous anxiety emitted off her skin like heat from a flame with her eyes darting around everywhere and her breaths becoming quicker. She may have seemed to be excited and confident, but Gajeel saw right through that. She was as nervous as him.

The thought made him smirk but also made his heart race more. If she was as nervous as him, did that mean he had to take the leap? Did he have to push forward, decide if they would do it or not? He didn't want to be the one who had to decide it, to be the one where all the pressure was on him.

But as his thoughts went rapid in his head, he felt something else. Shock coursed through his mind as he glanced down to see lips on his, tiny lips belonging to a tiny girl who had her eyes closed shut. His heart felt heavy as his body moved on his own, the decision already being made for both of them as he kissed her back.

 **Sorry for the long wait, had a long weekend and my birthday :D but also didn't know how to end it. I'll probably do an epilogue but I hope you guys enjoyed this...even if it took so long to finish...**

 **:D**


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